The accusations against David Rivera came in a new filing Friday in New York federal court by opponents of the president of Venezuela who now control the U.S.-based affiliates of the South American nation's state oil company.
In 2020 Rivera was sued by a Delaware based affiliate of Citgo. Rivera signed a $50 million contract for three months of "strategic consulting" in order to build bridges with U.S. stakeholders.
The same contract has been the subject of an ongoing criminal investigation by federal prosecutors in Miami looking into whether Rivera failed to register as a foreign lobbyist.
Rivera has not been charged with any crime, but the new filings give a detailed look at his dealings with Venezuela's state-run oil industry.
When Rivera was hired, the government of Venezuela launched a charm offensive in order to curry favor with the Trump administration. Initially, it avoided criticism of the new U.S. leader, donating $500,000 to his inaugural committee.
The new court filing is based on evidence that was only recently uncovered by Rivera's attorneys, including 18,000 text andWhatsApp messages from Rivera's phone and statements he made during a two day deposition in July.
The new filing says Rivera spent part of the original amount on unexplained payments to a convicted drug trafficker and to a company managing yachts on behalf of a Venezuela TV magnate.
According to the filing, Mr. Rivera never intended to provide any services to Citgo. The true purpose of the agreement was to cover up illegal activity.
Rivera did not reply to a request for comment, but he has maintained his innocence and has filed a countersuit against the company accusing them of unjust enrichment and breaching their contract.
Rivera talked about trying to set up a meeting between Venezuela's foreign minister and executives from Exxon in one message.
According to the new filing, Rivera and Gorrin text each other that the concert ticket is not 20 but 15.
According to the filing, Mr. Rivera testified that he did not remember attending any concerts at that time. The meeting never took place and it didn't say who a bribe might have been for.
Rivera asked the court to shield his communications with Gorrin, who the U.S. alleges was the mastermind of a conspiracy to snatch a billion dollars from Venezuela's state oil company. A judge ruled in June that Rivera's communications with him did not meet the threshold for attorney-client privilege and must be handed over.
According to the new filing, 75% of Rivera's money was transferred to other people. Interglobal Yacht Management received over three million dollars. Rivera said the money was an expense for services. It is alleged that the money was used to pay for maintenance on a yacht.
Similar amounts went to Esther Nuhfer, who is described as a long time political associate of Rivera, as well as Hugo Perera, a Miami developer who pleaded guilty to tax fraud in a massive drug-smuggling case.
Rivera testified that the payments were referral fees and that he received assistance as part of the consulting contract. The new anti-Maduro management claims that Rivera wasn't given permission toOutsource the work, as was required by the consulting Agreement.
The day before the consulting agreement took effect, Rivera created "phony contracts" to justify the large payments, according to the complaint.
Interglobal refused to sign the backdated contract because it didn't perform that type of service.
In exchange for making payments of fifteen million dollars, Interamerican gave nothing toPDV USA. Most of the money was given to third parties that are either indicted fugitives from justice or under criminal investigation.
Other payments, which were deducted as expenses by Interamerican, were actually moved between accounts controlled by Rivera. According to the new filing, Rivera's accountant testified in a deposition that he believed his client had committed tax fraud.
The consulting contract had all of the hallmarks of a fake. Rivera's Interamerican made just $9500 in the previous year.
According to the lawsuit, Rivera never met with anyone from Citgo orPDV USA while supposedly working on its behalf, and Interamerican was hired out of the blue. He didn't submit the progress reports he was supposed to.
There is no evidence that Interamerican performed any of the contracted services, according to the new filing. There is not a single email, a single PowerPoint presentation, a single outline, a single Memorandum, or anything else suggesting that Interamerican ever performed any of the services.
During his time in Congress, Rivera cosponsored legislation that sought to deny funding to the Organization of American States until it confronted then President Hugo Chavez for violating the constitution of his country.
He shared a house with a senator while he was a lawmaker. He was the state House speaker. Rivera has been involved in several election related scandals, including orchestrating the stealth funding of an obscure Democratic candidate to take on his main rival in a South Florida congressional race. He was fined almost half a million dollars for violating campaign finance laws.
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