Former Rep. David Rivera (R-Fla.) was found guilty of charges he secretly lobbied federal officials on behalf of a US unit of Venezuela state-owned oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA during the first Trump administration.
A jury in Miami on Friday returned the verdict on numerous counts after a seven-week trial. Rivera was taken into custody, and he plans to appeal.
Rivera and political consultant Esther Nuhfer were accused of conspiring to influence US foreign policy toward the South American country without disclosing their arrangement. One of the alleged goals was preventing further sanctions against then-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
Maduro ...