Former Florida congressman indicted on foreign agent charges
Former Rep. David Rivera, R-Fla., was indicted Tuesday on charges that he violated the Foreign Agents Registration Act and laundered funds in order to “conceal and promote his criminal conduct,” the Justice Department said on Wednesday.
In the indictment, Rivera is accused of working “as an agent” of Raul Gorrín Belisario, a Venezuelan national who the Treasury Department said played a role in a “corruption scheme” to bribe the national treasurer of Venezuela.
Rivera “sought to lobby senior U.S. government officials” on Gorrín’s behalf, attempting to have Gorrín removed from a list he was placed on because of the alleged bribery, according to the indictment returned by the grand jury.
Under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), anyone who has agreed to work in a certain capacity for a foreign government’s interest, either through the government itself or an intermediary, must register with the U.S. government.
The indictment also alleges that Rivera created shell companies “to conceal and promote his crimes.” The alleged scheme took place in 2019 and 2020, according to the indictment.
The FBI Miami Field Office, which the DOJ said is investigating the case, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday night. An attorney for Rivera also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Rivera was previously arrested and indicted in 2022. Prosecutors alleged in that case that Rivera tried to “act and cause others to act in the United States as an agent of a foreign principal,” referring to the Venezuelan government, without registering with the U.S. government.
The Miami Herald reported on Wednesday that Rivera in a statement referred to the various FARA allegations as “false,” arguing that Tuesday’s indictment was “just another politicized indictment against a Republican, right before the Trump administration brings back sanity and fairness to this weaponization of the justice system.”
Rivera served in Congress from 2011 to 2013.
