A former Miami congressman who signed a $50 million consulting contract with Venezuela’s socialist authorities not solely did no obvious work, but in addition channeled a big chunk of the cash to a yacht firm on behalf of a fugitive billionaire, in response to new allegations in a civil go well with.
The accusations towards former Congressman David Rivera are available a brand new submitting Friday in New York federal courtroom by opponents of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro who now management the U.S.-based associates of the South American nation’s state oil firm.
Rivera’s Interamerican Consulting was sued in 2020 by PDV USA — a Delaware-based affiliate of Venezuelan-owned Citgo. It alleges Rivera carried out no work for the $50 million contract he signed in 2017 for 3 months of “strategic consulting” meant to construct bridges with key U.S. stakeholders.
The identical contract has been the topic of an ongoing legal investigation by federal prosecutors in Miami trying into, amongst different issues, whether or not Rivera did not register as a overseas lobbyist as required bv regulation.
Rivera has not been charged with any crime, however the brand new filings give an in depth have a look at his dealings with Venezuela’s state-run oil trade and the way he allegedly spent the cash he acquired.
Around the identical time Rivera was employed, Maduro’s authorities had launched a attraction offensive to curry favor with the Trump administration. It initially averted outright criticism of the brand new U.S. chief and even donated $500,000 to his inaugural committee by Citgo.
The new courtroom submitting is predicated on proof solely not too long ago uncovered by PDV USA’s attorneys, together with 18,000 textual content and WhatsApp messages from Rivera’s telephone and statements he made throughout a two-day deposition in July.
Rivera acquired solely $15 million of the unique quantity, however the brand new submitting says he spent a part of that on unexplained funds to a convicted drug trafficker and to an organization managing yachts on behalf of a Venezuelan TV magnate needed for arrest by U.S. authorities.
“Mr. Rivera never provided any services to Citgo and, it appears, never intended to do so,” in response to the submitting by PDV USA. “Instead, the true purpose of the agreement was to cover up illicit transactions.”
Rivera didn’t reply to a request for remark, however he has maintained his innocence and has countersued PDV USA alleging breach of contract and unjust enrichment for its failure to pay $30 million he says he’s nonetheless owed.
According to the submitting, in a single change of messages with Raul Gorrin — a Maduro insider who owns Venezuela’s largest personal TV community — Rivera mentioned making an attempt to arrange a gathering between Venezuela’s overseas minister and executives from the U.S. oil firm Exxon.
The new submitting cites a message during which Rivera and Gorrin texted each other that “the concert ticket is $15, not 20, as we said last night” — wording PDV USA’s lawyers call a “clear reference to a bribe.”
“At deposition, Mr. Rivera was unable to explain what this text message meant, and testified that he did not remember attending any concerts at that time,” PDV USA stated in its filing. It did not say who a bribe might have been meant for and the meeting never took place.
Rivera had asked the court to shield his communications with Gorrin, who the U.S. alleges was the mastermind of a conspiracy to siphon $1.2 billion from PDVSA. Gorrin is a lawyer, though not licensed to practice in the United States, and a judge in June ruled that Rivera’s communications with him did not meet the threshold for attorney-client privilege and must be handed over as part of what’s known as discovery.
Of the $15 million that Rivera received, about 75% was transferred to other individuals, according to the new filing. Around $3.75 million was transferred to a Miami company, Interglobal Yacht Management. Rivera claimed the money was an expense for services under the contract. PDV USA alleges instead it was used to pay for maintenance on one of Gorrin’s superyachts.
Similar amounts went to Esther Nuhfer, who is described as a longtime political associate of Rivera, as well as Hugo Perera, a Miami developer who pleaded guilty to tax fraud in a massive drug-smuggling case in the 1990s against the feared Cali Cartel.
Rivera testified that the payments were referral fees and for assistance he received as part of the consulting contract, according to PDV USA.’s account. But the new anti-Maduro management claims PDV USA never gave Rivera permission to outsource the work, as was expressly required by the consulting agreement.
To justify the large payments, PDV USA alleges Rivera created “phony contracts” backdated to March 20, 2017 — the day earlier than the consulting settlement took impact.
Interglobal declined to signal the backdated contract, saying it had not carried out that form of subcontractor service.
“In short, PDV USA received nothing from Interamerican in exchange for making payments of $15 million,” the plaintiffs allege. “Most of that sum was transferred to third parties that are either indicted fugitives from justice or under criminal investigation in connection with those payments.”
The submitting additionally alleges that different funds, deducted as bills by Interamerican, had been in actuality moved between accounts managed by Rivera. The new filings allege that Rivera’s personal accountant testified in a deposition after assembly with legal investigators from the Internal Revenue Service that he believed his consumer had dedicated tax fraud.
The consulting contract had all of the hallmarks of a sham, in response to PDV USA. Rivera’s Interamerican made simply $9,500 within the 12 months previous to signing the multi-million deal.
The lawsuit claims the corporate then managed by Maduro loyalists employed Interamerican out of the blue, with out due diligence, and that Rivera by no means met in particular person with anybody from Citgo or PDV USA whereas supposedly engaged on its behalf. Instead, he filed two “deficient and incoherent” progress studies of the seven he was required to submit.
“The written record is bereft of any evidence that Interamerican performed any of the contracted services,” PDV USA argues within the new filings. “There is not a single email, a single PowerPoint presentation, a single outline, a single memorandum, a single calendar entry, or anything else suggesting that Interamerican ever performed any of the services.”
Rivera served a single time period in Congress, in 2011-2013, and through that point honored Venezuelan exiles fleeing socialist rule and cosponsored laws in search of to withhold funding from the Organization of American States till it confronted then President Hugo Chávez for allegedly violating Venezuela’s structure.
While serving as a state legislator, he shared a home in Tallahassee with now-Sen. Marco Rubio, who was the state House speaker on the time. He has been embroiled in a number of election-related controversies since then, together with orchestrating the stealth funding of an obscure Democratic candidate to tackle his most important rival in a South Florida congressional race. Last 12 months, he was fined $456,000 for violating marketing campaign finance legal guidelines in connection to that plot.
___:
Follow Goodman on Twitter: @APJoshGoodman
Source: www.unbiased.co.uk