Former U.S. Rep. David Rivera and Esther Nuhfer, a political consultant, decided not to testify in their defense in a federal trial over their alleged illegal lobbying for Venezuela, attorneys said.
The two returned to federal court on Tuesday morning in Miami for trial on charges of acting as an unregistered agent for Venezuela, conspiring to commit money laundering, and tax evasion.
U.S. District Judge Melissa Damian of the Southern District of Florida issued the jury’s instructions. Jurors listened to closing statements by both the defense and prosecution.
“This case, as we all know, is more than just the greed and the betrayal,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Roger Cruz said during his closing statement in court. “It’s about how they not only failed, but they completely and wholeheartedly decided to keep their relationship with the Maduro regime secret.”
Prosecutors filed the case against Rivera and Nuhger, a political consultant, on Nov. 16, 2022, over a consulting contract with Venezuela’s state-run oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A.
Cruz said Rivera and Nuhger “secretly” operated as lobbyists for Maduro for $50 million, initially for three months.
“You are not able to say, as you sit here right now, having heard that closing argument, and all the evidence, what is it that Nicolas Maduro hired Inter-American Consulting, David’s company, to do to normalize his relations while he remained in power in Venezuela,” Attorney Ed Shohat, Rivera’s defense, said during his closing statement. “And there’s a reason for that, there’s a very important reason that that eludes you, and that’s because it did not happen. It never happened.”
The trial’s witnesses included U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and U.S. Rep. Pete Sessions, a Republican from Texas who is close to President Donald Trump.
The evidence the jury learned about included a Local 10 News One and Only Exclusive interview with Rivera that had aired in 2022.
The case includes meetings they allegedly arranged between Sessions with Delcy Rodríguez in 2017 in New York City and with Nicolás Maduro in Caracas.
Sessions testified that the conversations focused on a path forward for Venezuela without Maduro in power.
After Maduro’s capture, Rodríguez went on to become the first woman in Venezuelan history to perform the duties of the presidency.
Rivera served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2011 to 2013 and in the Florida House of Representatives from 2002 to 2010.
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