Former US Congressman SENTENCED To 10 Years For Secret $20M Maduro Deal

In early 2017, a one-man consulting firm in Miami signed a $50 million contract with the American arm of Venezuela’s state oil company. It was supposed to last three months. The firm belonged to former Florida congressman David Rivera. Over the following months he met members of Congress and Washington lobbyists, and several of them later told a jury he never mentioned that contract. The FBI arrested him in 2022. On October 2, 2026, a federal judge in Miami sentenced Rivera to 10 years in prison.

Prosecutors also found an encrypted group chat full of code names. One of them belonged to a man who is now America’s secretary of state.

The $50 million PDV USA contract and how it was structured Why Venezuela’s then-foreign minister wanted Rivera A congressman’s secret trip to Caracas and a letter from Maduro to Trump The encrypted chat “MIA” and its code names Where prosecutors say part of the money went The trial, the witnesses and the defense What the judge said before handing down 10 years The appeal, the pardon request, and the last code name David Rivera and Esther Nuhfer were convicted on all counts in May 2026. Rivera’s lawyers plan to appeal and have applied for a presidential pardon.

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