2026-10-02T20:24:26.985Z / 美国有线电视新闻网（CNN）
迈阿密美联社电——
一名前迈阿密国会议员、美国国务卿马可·鲁比奥的长期好友于周五被判处10年监禁，其涉及特朗普首届政府期间代表委内瑞拉开展的秘密5000万美元游说活动。
共和党人大卫·里维拉自5月陪审团裁定其全部罪名成立以来一直被收押，罪名包括未以外国代理人身份登记，以及为前委内瑞拉总统尼古拉斯·马杜罗政府工作期间共谋洗钱。
现年61岁的里维拉出庭时面无表情，法官梅利莎·达米安斥责他背叛了自己毕生的使命，称如果这笔巨款来自古巴政权而非其加拉加斯盟友，他的众多朋友肯定会对其作出严厉评判。
“没人会认为这没问题，我也不认为这次有什么不同，”法官说道，“这笔钱来自马杜罗政权一事毫无争议。”
这场为期七周的审判罕见地揭示了迈阿密作为外国影响力竞选交汇点的角色，这些竞选旨在影响美国对拉美政策，也凸显了这座城市作为反共斗士和庞大流亡群体中腐败现象聚集地的名声。
庭审中，唐纳德·特朗普总统的国务卿、得克萨斯州众议员皮特·塞申斯以及一名顶级华盛顿说客出庭作证——他们均表示，得知里维拉与委内瑞拉国有石油公司PDVSA在美国的一家关联公司签订巨额咨询合同后，他们感到被背叛了。
里维拉的律师计划上诉，并于6月申请总统赦免。里维拉还在华盛顿特区面临相关外国游说案件的额外联邦指控。
检方称，相关行动使用了“宽边帽”和“克拉伊洛尔小姐”等代号
在2022年公开的起诉书中，检方指控里维拉受时任外交部长德尔西·罗德里格斯——现为委内瑞拉代理总统——指派，利用共和党人脉促使特朗普首届政府放弃对委内瑞拉的强硬立场和严厉制裁。
作为魅力攻势的一部分，里维拉与同案被告、政治顾问埃丝特·努弗试图拉拢包括鲁比奥和塞申斯在内的有影响力的友人。他们的目标是与特朗普新政府实现关系正常化，尽管马杜罗政府因严重侵犯人权的指控而面临制裁。
但检方在庭审中辩称，里维拉和努弗未按要求披露其游说工作，因为他们担心这会毁掉里维拉作为反共中坚的政治生涯。
“美国和公众才是这场欺诈的真正受害者，”美国助理检察官罗杰·克鲁兹在呼吁重判时表示，“他利用了自己的信任地位——并且一而再、再而三地背叛了这一点。”
为掩盖自己的工作，检方指控里维拉还与自己在马杜罗政府的主要联络人、委内瑞拉媒体大亨劳尔·戈林建立了一个名为MIA（代表迈阿密）的加密聊天群组。戈林随后在美国因贿赂委内瑞拉高级官员而被起诉。
根据提交给陪审团的短信副本，该群组的成员使用玩笑式代号讨论活动：马杜罗是“巴士司机”，塞申斯是“宽边帽”，罗德里格斯是“红衣女士”，他们的巨额报酬是“拉卢斯”，西班牙语意为“光明”。鲁比奥的代号是“克拉伊洛尔小姐”，因为“rubio”在西班牙语中意为金发。
在周五的量刑听证会上，里维拉的律师重申了庭审时的辩护观点，即这名前国会议员认为自己没有义务披露这项工作。他们表示，与里维拉的单人咨询公司签订的为期三个月、金额5000万美元的合同，重点是吸引石油巨头埃克森美孚重返委内瑞拉——这类商业工作通常不受《外国代理人登记法》约束。
“大卫·里维拉不该因为未提交外国代理人登记（FARA）文件就死在狱中，”辩护律师埃德·肖哈特在周五的听证会上说道，“如果他提交了那份文件、那张表格，那么他所做的一切，包括那笔彻底扭曲了本案的5000万美元合同，都是完全合法的。”
他们称，里维拉与鲁比奥和塞申斯的会面与这项咨询工作完全无关，这些会面的重点是推动委内瑞拉领导层产生对美不那么敌对的政权——而非支持马杜罗与美国实现关系正常化。
“任何聊天记录里都没有半个字、任何文件里都没有、他做的任何事情都没有帮助尼古拉斯·马杜罗，”肖哈特说道。
检方表示，里维拉利用与关联公司PDV USA（总部位于纽约）的合同作为非法游说的掩护。
“这是一起典型的洗钱案件，”法官周五在驳回里维拉降低联邦量刑指导范围的动议时说道。
检方称，这两名同谋试图掩盖工作——篡改文件日期，炮制虚假协议，比如为一笔375万美元的电汇交易找借口，这笔钱汇入了一家维护戈林豪华游艇的南佛罗里达公司。
政治行动包括为罗德里格斯在纽约、加拉加斯、华盛顿和达拉斯安排会面。作为行动的一部分，里维拉拉拢了塞申斯，后者后来试图为罗德里格斯牵线会见埃克森美孚的高管——该高管在雷克斯·蒂勒森成为特朗普首届政府国务卿时接任了埃克森美孚首席执行官一职。在与马杜罗在加拉加斯秘密会面后，塞申斯还同意转交委内瑞拉总统写给特朗普的一封信。
不过，这项外联行动很快就败露了。特朗普就职六个月内就对马杜罗实施制裁，将其贴上“独裁者”的标签，发起了“最大压力”运动以推翻这位总统。
而如今，近十年后，在美国军事推翻马杜罗之后，罗德里格斯成为了特朗普第二届政府的可信伙伴。
鲁比奥的前室友此前曾陷入丑闻，但古巴裔美国人仍支持他
在2010年当选国会议员之前，里维拉曾是佛罗里达州高级议员，与后来成为佛罗里达州众议院议长的鲁比奥共同居住在塔拉哈西的一处住宅中。
里维拉此前曾陷入争议，包括2012年国会选举中被指控秘密资助民主党搅局候选人。去年，在上诉法院撤销下级法院作出的大额罚款后，联邦检察官撤销了这起案件。里维拉还曾因涉嫌竞选财务违规以及在佛罗里达州议会任职期间与一家博彩公司签订100万美元合同而接受调查，但从未被起诉。
尽管如此，里维拉在迈阿密的古巴裔美国人圈子中仍然很受欢迎。
包括佛罗里达国际大学前校长和迈阿密-戴德县选举监督员在内的前国会议员的朋友们挤满了法庭，以示支持。
塞申斯在一封请求宽大处理的信中表示，他的前国会同事数十年来一直致力于公共服务，其中大部分时间都在捍卫自由和民主。这封信由他的幕僚长宣读至庭审记录中。
“将大卫关押很长很长时间，对社会来说毫无益处，”长期担任迈阿密共和党委员会成员的莉莲娜·罗斯作证说道。
Former GOP congressman and longtime Rubio friend sentenced to 10 years for secret Venezuela lobbying
2026-10-02T20:24:26.985Z / CNN
Miami AP—
A former Miami congressman and longtime friend of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio was sentenced Friday to 10 years in prison in connection with a secret $50 million lobbying campaign on Venezuela’s behalf during the first Trump administration.
Republican David Rivera has been jailed since jurors found him guilty in May on all counts, including failing to register as a foreign agent and conspiracy to commit money laundering as part of his work for former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s government.
Rivera, 61, appeared stone-faced as Judge Melissa Damian denounced him for betraying his life’s mission, saying he would surely have been judged harshly by his many friends had the millions of dollars come from the Cuban regime instead of its allies in Caracas.
“Nobody would accept that’s ok and I don’t think this is different,” the judge said. “There’s no dispute this money came from the Maduro regime.”
The seven-week trial offered a rare glimpse into Miami’s role as a crossroads for foreign influence campaigns aimed at shaping US policy toward Latin America, highlighting the city’s reputation as a magnet for both anti-communist crusaders and corruption among its sizable exile population.
It included testimony from President Donald Trump’s secretary of state, Rep. Pete Sessions of Texas and a top Washington lobbyist — all of whom testified they felt betrayed when learning of Rivera’s mammoth consulting contract with a US-based affiliate of Venezuela’s state oil company, PDVSA.
Attorneys for Rivera plan to appeal and in June applied for a presidential pardon. Rivera faces additional federal charges in Washington, DC, in a related foreign lobbying case.
Prosecutors said betrayal featured coded figures — ‘Sombrero’ and ‘Miss Clairol’
In an indictment unsealed in 2022, prosecutors alleged that Rivera was tapped by then Foreign Minister Delcy Rodríguez — now Venezuela’s acting president — to work Republican connections to get the first Trump administration to abandon its hard line and crippling sanctions on Venezuela.
As part of the charm offensive, Rivera and a co-defendant, political consultant Esther Nuhfer, sought to manipulate influential friends, including Rubio and Sessions. Their goal was to normalize relations with the new Trump administration even as the Maduro government faced sanctions over serious accusations of human rights violations.
But Rivera and Nuhfer didn’t disclose their lobbying work as required, for fear it would have ended Rivera’s political career as an anti-communist stalwart, prosecutors argued at trial.
“The United States and the public were the true victims of this fraud,” Assistant US Attorney Roger Cruz said in urging a stiff sentence. “He used his position of trust — and betrayed it consistently and repeatedly.”
To hide his work, prosecutors allege, Rivera also set up an encrypted chat group called MIA — for Miami — with his main conduit to the Maduro government: Venezuelan media tycoon Raúl Gorrín, who was subsequently charged in the US with bribing top Venezuelan officials.
Members of the group used playful code words to discuss their activities: Maduro was the “bus driver,” Sessions “Sombrero,” Rodríguez “The Lady in Red,” and their windfall payments “La Luz,” Spanish for “The Light,” according to copies of text messages presented to the jury. Rubio was known as “Miss Clairol,” because rubio means blond in Spanish.
At Friday’s sentencing, attorneys for Rivera repeated their trial argument that the former congressman believed he was under no requirement to disclose the work. The three-month, $50 million contract with Rivera’s one-man consulting firm, they said, was focused on luring oil giant ExxonMobil back to Venezuela — commercial work that is generally exempt from the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
“David Rivera does not deserve to die in prison because he failed to file a FARA registration,” defense attorney Ed Shohat said at Friday’s hearing. “If he had filed that paper, that form, everything he did, including the $50 million contract, which totally distorted this case, is perfectly legal.”
Wholly distinct from that consulting work, they say, were Rivera’s meetings with Rubio and Sessions, which were focused on ushering in leadership in Venezuela that would be less hostile to the US – not supporting Maduro in normalizing relations with the US.
“There’s not one word in any chat, not one document, not one thing he did to help Nicolás Maduro,” said Shohat.
Prosecutors said Rivera used the contract with the affiliate, New York-based PDV USA, as cover for illegal lobbying.
“This is a classic money laundering case,” the judge said Friday in rejecting Rivera’s motion to lower the federal guidelines range.
The partners tried to hide the work — backdating documents and coming up with sham agreements, like one to justify a wire transfer of $3.75 million to a South Florida company that maintained Gorrín’s luxury yacht, prosecutors said.
The political activity included setting up meetings for Rodríguez in New York, Caracas, Washington and Dallas. As part of the effort, Rivera roped in Sessions, who later tried to broker a meeting for Rodríguez with the ExxonMobil executive who took over as CEO when Rex Tillerson became Trump’s first-term secretary of state. After a secret meeting in Caracas with Maduro, Sessions also agreed to deliver a letter from the Venezuelan president to Trump.
The outreach quickly unraveled, however. Within six months of taking office, Trump sanctioned Maduro and labeled him a “dictator,” launching a “maximum pressure” campaign to unseat the president.
And now, nearly a decade later, Rodríguez has emerged as the second Trump administration’s trusted partner after the US military’s ousting of Maduro.
Rubio’s former housemate faced scandal before, but Cuban Americans support him
Before being elected to Congress in 2010, Rivera was a high-ranking Florida legislator and shared a Tallahassee home with Rubio, who eventually became the Florida House speaker.
Rivera faced earlier controversy, including allegations that he secretly funded a Democratic spoiler candidate in a 2012 congressional race. Last year, federal prosecutors dropped that case after an appeals court threw out a sizable fine imposed by a lower court. Rivera was also investigated — but never charged — for alleged campaign finance violations and a $1 million contract with a gambling company while serving in the Florida Legislature.
Despite all that, Rivera remains popular among Miami’s Cuban American establishment.
Friends of the former congressman, including the former president of Florida International University and Miami-Dade County’s supervisor of elections, packed the courtroom to show their support.
Sessions, in a letter seeking leniency that was read into the record by his chief of staff, said his former congressional colleague devoted decades to public service, much of it focused on defending liberty and democracy.
“I don’t think it’s productive for society by sending David away for a long, long time,” testified Liliana Ros, a longtime Miami GOP committee member.
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