Former U.S. lawmaker David Rivera was arrested on Monday on charges of conspiring to launder money and to illegally act as an agent of the Venezuelan government, according to a U.S. official and an indictment.
Rivera and associate Esther Nuhfer sought to improve bilateral ties and prevent further U.S. economic sanctions against Venezuela, without disclosing this as required by the Foreign Agents Registration Act, according to the indictment.
In exchange, Rivera's consulting group Interamerican Consulting received $15,000,000 in payments in March and April of 2017 from PDV USA, a U.S. subsidiary of Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA, the indictment says.
