MIAMI, Fla. (CBS12) — A former member of the Florida House of Representatives was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison on Friday after being convicted of secretly working as an unregistered Venezuelan agent and laundering millions.

U.S. District Judge Melissa Damian sentenced 61-year-old David Rivera on Friday after a federal jury found him guilty of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act, violating FARA, conspiracy to commit money laundering and four counts of engaging in transactions involving criminally derived property.

According to court records and evidence presented at trial, Rivera and lobbyist Esther Nuhfer secured a $50 million contract with a subsidiary of Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A., or PDVSA, per previous reports.

Prosecutors said the pair used the contract to advance the interests of the Venezuelan government in the U.S. without registering as foreign agents as required by law.

Rivera and Nuhfer lobbied U.S. officials, including then-Sen. Marco Rubio and U.S. Rep. Pete Sessions, and arranged meetings between U.S. policymakers and high-ranking Venezuelan officials, including then-President Nicolás Maduro and then-Foreign Minister Delcy Rodríguez, according to court records.

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The pair also used coded language in text messages to describe their activities, prosecutors said.

The evidence showed Rivera deposited about $1.5 million in proceeds from the contract into his Florida state congressional campaign account between March 2017 and August 2018. Prosecutors also said he used the money for other personal expenses.

52-year-old Nuhfer, used about $455,000 from the contract proceeds to purchase a residence in Key Colony Beach, according to prosecutors.

Nuhfer was previously sentenced to five years in federal prison after being convicted at trial of conspiracy to violate FARA, violating FARA, conspiracy to commit money laundering and engaging in a transaction involving criminally derived property.

“Today’s sentence reinforces a simple rule: foreign influence in America cannot operate in the shadows,” U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones for the Southern District of Florida said.

Quiñones said Rivera’s conduct was particularly significant because he had previously represented a South Florida community with generations of families who fled communist oppression.

The FBI Miami Field Office and IRS Criminal Investigation investigated the case.