{"id":251341,"date":"2026-04-29T18:13:58","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T18:13:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/251341\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T18:13:58","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T18:13:58","slug":"closing-arguments-continue-in-miami-trial-of-ex-lawmaker-accused-of-illegally-lobbying-for-venezuela","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/251341\/","title":{"rendered":"Closing arguments continue in Miami trial of ex-lawmaker accused of illegally lobbying for Venezuela"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"c-paragraph\">MIAMI \u2014 Closing arguments continued Wednesday in a federal trial involving former Republican U.S. Rep. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.local10.com\/news\/2026\/04\/28\/ex-rep-david-rivera-accused-of-illegally-lobbying-for-venezuela-chooses-not-to-testify-in-trial\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.local10.com\/news\/2026\/04\/28\/ex-rep-david-rivera-accused-of-illegally-lobbying-for-venezuela-chooses-not-to-testify-in-trial\/\">David Rivera<\/a>, who authorities say is accused of secretly lobbying on behalf of Venezuelan President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro\u2019s government without registering as a foreign agent.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.local10.com\/espanol\/2026\/04\/29\/continuan-argumentos-finales-en-juicio-en-miami-de-ex-legislador-acusado-de-cabildeo-ilegal-para-venezuela\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.local10.com\/espanol\/2026\/04\/29\/continuan-argumentos-finales-en-juicio-en-miami-de-ex-legislador-acusado-de-cabildeo-ilegal-para-venezuela\/\">Leer en espa\u00f1ol<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">The case, now in its fifth week in federal court in downtown Miami, stems from alleged conduct dating back to 2017. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Prosecutors are expected to complete their arguments by the end of the day, after which the case could be turned over to the jury.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Rivera and co-defendant Esther Nuhfer are accused of failing to register under federal foreign agent laws. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Prosecutors allege the pair conspired to profit by using political connections to advance efforts tied to Venezuela\u2019s government, including attempts to normalize relations between Caracas and Washington.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">According to prosecutors, Rivera and Nuhfer engaged in undisclosed lobbying activities that benefited Maduro\u2019s administration while avoiding required disclosure under U.S. law.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Defense attorneys counter that the work at issue was commercial in nature and did not require registration. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">They argue the arrangement involved a U.S.-based company connected to Venezuela\u2019s oil sector and was focused on business opportunities rather than political advocacy. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Exxon and Venezuela had a major legal battle after Maduro\u2019s predecessor, former President Hugo Ch\u00e1vez, seized the company\u2019s assets, according to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.miamiherald.com\/news\/local\/crime\/article315551615.html\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.miamiherald.com\/news\/local\/crime\/article315551615.html\">Miami Herald<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Attorneys for Nuhfer told jurors there is no evidence she acted in bad faith, asking during closing arguments, \u201cWhy did they charge her in the first place?\u201d They argued that if jurors cannot answer that question, they should return a not guilty verdict.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">The jury of 12 also heard testimony from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who said he had no knowledge Rivera was lobbying on behalf of the Venezuelan government when they met in 2017.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Jurors additionally heard from Texas Rep. Pete Sessions, who testified he was unaware Rivera\u2019s consulting work was tied to any foreign government contract.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Read Rivera\u2019s indictment in the document below.<\/p>\n<p>\ud83c\udfe0 News From Your Neighborhood<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph b-article-body__copyright\">Copyright 2026 by WPLG Local10.com &#8211; All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MIAMI \u2014 Closing arguments continued Wednesday in a federal trial involving former Republican U.S. Rep. David Rivera, who&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":251342,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[225,227,226],"class_list":["post-251341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-hialeah","tag-hialeah","tag-hialeah-headlines","tag-hialeah-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=251341"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251341\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/251342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=251341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=251341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}