A former Florida congressman will spend a decade in federal prison after a court found that a $50 million consulting deal was used to carry out an undeclared lobbying operation tied to Venezuela's government.
David Rivera, 61, was sentenced on Friday after being convicted in May of money laundering and acting as an undeclared foreign agent. He was found guilty following a seven-week trial that examined his work for a US-based subsidiary of Venezuela's state-owned oil company, PDVSA, also known as Citgo.
The sentence also requires Rivera to forfeit properties he owns in Florida.
Prosecutors in Florida said Rivera and political consultant Esther Nuhfer were paid $50 million under a three-month contract to conduct what they called a "secret political influence campaign".
Nuhfer, who faced trial together with Rivera, was also convicted.
The government alleged that the lobbying operation was carried out in 2017 and 2018, when the relationship between the US and Venezuela had become increasingly strained.
At the time, President Donald Trump was in the White House and his administration had imposed sanctions on Venezuela.
Prosecutors said Rivera and Nuhfer were acting at the direction of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro's government and sought access to senior American political figures.
Their alleged targets included Marco Rubio, who was then a US senator, and Kellyanne Conway, who served as a senior White House adviser.
Rubio had previously shared a home with Rivera and remained a close friend. During the trial, he told the court that he did not know Rivera was carrying out lobbying work.
Rubio, who later became Secretary of State, and Texas congressman Pete Sessions both testified that they were unaware of Rivera's activities.
Neither politician was accused of taking part in the scheme.
Rivera and Nuhfer's defence teams challenged the government's argument that they were required to register as foreign agents. They maintained that their contract was signed with a US-based subsidiary of the Venezuelan oil company rather than directly with the Venezuelan government.
The defence argued that the arrangement therefore did not require them to register as representatives of a foreign government.
Judge Melissa Damian rejected that argument while handing down Rivera's sentence on Friday.
"There's no dispute this money came from the Maduro regime."
Rivera served in the US Congress from 2011 to 2013 after winning election as a Florida Republican.
The case focused on allegations that he and Nuhfer secretly carried out political influence work connected to a foreign government without making the required disclosure to US authorities.
Rivera will now serve 10 years in federal prison and surrender his Florida properties under the terms of the sentence, while Nuhfer's conviction remains part of the same case.