Venezuela Foreign Lobbying and FARA

Senator Marco Rubio testified under oath in Miami federal court in the trial of former Rep. David Rivera and associate Esther Nuhfer, who are accused in a 2022 indictment of money laundering and acting as unregistered foreign agents over a purported 2017 $50 million, three‑month contract tied to PDVSA/CITGO and brokered by Venezuelan figures including Raúl Gorrín and then‑foreign minister Delcy Rodríguez. Rubio — a onetime roommate of Rivera — described 2017 meetings Rivera arranged that were pitched as seeking a “peaceful transition,” said Rivera never disclosed the consulting contract or Maduro connection, and his testimony undercuts Rivera’s defense that the work was purely commercial while prosecutors say the scheme amounted to secret lobbying for Nicolás Maduro.