MIAMI (AP) – Recently filed lobbying records show the Venezuelan socialist government previously hired a longtime Democratic Party donor for $ 6 million, while pushing to deter the United States from imposing sanctions on the nation rich in oil.
The documents, which were released Thursday, show that a U.S. subsidiary of Venezuela’s state oil giant, PDVSA, agreed to hire Marcia Wiss’s Washington law firm in March 2017. It was the same month that he signed a $ 50 million consulting deal with former congressman David, tainted by the scandal. Rivera.
Wiss, an international trade lawyer with a history of donations to the Democratic Party, including a $ 1,500 contribution to Joe Biden last year, denies doing any pressure work.
His former client, now under new management, said he was unaware of all his work to determine whether these were political activities that benefited the government of Nicolás Maduro. The PDVSA subsidiary also took the unusual step of retroactively registering as a foreign agent, revealing contracts with Rivera, Wiss and a third-party seller.
The contracts have come to light as allies of opposition leader Juan Guaidó work with the Justice Department to uncover any corruption deal at another Houston-based PDVSA subsidiary, Citgo, which during years it worked like cash cow for the governing party of Venezuela. A board appointed by Guaidó gained control of Citgo, the sixth U.S. independent refiner, after the Trump administration recognized him as the legitimate leader of Venezuela in 2019.
The same officials appointed by Guaidó behind the new foreign lobby presentations sued Rivera last year for alleged breach of his consulting contract. Miami federal prosecutors are also investigating whether the Republican violated foreign pressure rules.
By the time Wiss and Rivera were detained, Maduro was trying to favor the Trump administration, avoiding direct criticism of the new U.S. president while channeling $ 500,000 to his inaugural committee through Citgo.
The contracts with Rivera and Wiss were part of an effort to deter the then new Trump administration and other governments from imposing sanctions on Venezuela, according to three people familiar with the agreements on condition of anonymity to discuss the issue. politically sensitive. The payments came from a little-known subsidiary registered in Delaware, PDV USA, which provided shareholder services to PDVSA regardless of Citgo’s oil operations.
The three people said the Maduro government regularly used the holding company for political activities in the US
The charm offensive failed. Supported by exiles in Miami, Trump in the early days of his presidency hosted the wife of a prominent imprisoned Venezuelan activist and, in August 2017, imposed the first of the gradually more restrictive sanctions on PDVSA. Democrats applauded the tough stance and the European Union began attacking Maduro’s allies with restrictions of its own.
But with a similar approach, it is now being tried again with the Biden for a time, Maduro tried to ease hostilities with the United States, which had been Venezuela’s main trading partner for decades before sanctions brought it closer to US adversaries such as Russia, China and Iran. There was also the American representative Pete Sessions, who PDVSA tried to hire to set up a meeting with Exxon’s boss at the same time, former oil giant CEO Rex Tillerson served as Trump’s secretary of state.
Wiss collected about half of the $ 6 million in monthly installments of $ 250,000 before receiving instructions, like Rivera, to re-bill PDVSA in Caracas in April 2018, according to records. On one occasion, he traveled to Caracas to meet with the then Minister of Foreign Affairs, Delcy Rodríguez, who was a member of the PDVSA board of directors in charge of international relations, according to two of the three people familiar with the agreement. Rodriguez is now the vice president of Venezuela.
Wiss said his law firm has never provided or ever provided pressure services. He added that the firm never billed or ever received any payment from PDVSA or any party related to the United States, suggesting that half of the contract was not paid.
“Wiss undertook to provide PDV USA and its affiliates only legal services,” he wrote in an email response to the questions.
But the board appointed by Guaido of PDV USA considered that the hiring of Wiss, Rivera and a third company, Caribbean Style Inc., required him to register according to foreign pressure rules. Texas-based Caribbean Style received $ 625,000 for four full-page ads in the New York Times and the Washington Post.
“The content of the pro-Venezuelan and anti-US sanctions in these announcements suggests that they were intended to influence the U.S. government or the perspective of the U.S. public on the rating of the U.S. sanctions regime in Venezuela, ”PDV USA said in its presentation, which is dated. December 31st.
In total, PDVSA sent $ 89 million to US PDV between 2015 and March 2017 to pay U.S.-based suppliers, according to the file, which was first reported by Foreign Lobby Report, a service Online News Tracking Influence Industry
PDV USA said Wiss provided updates on PDVSA-related disputes and advice on immigration, insurance and cryptocurrency.
But he added that “PDV USA is unaware of the full scope of the legal work that Wiss may have been doing under the withholding service,” suggesting that what Guaidó-designated officials consider a high rate may have covered additional services of which no has a background. . The PA was unable to find any record of Wiss’s presence on behalf of PDV USA or PDVSA in a federal court or in the large number of commercial claims against Venezuela before a World Bank arbitration tribunal.
Wiss would not say what legal services he provided or whether he had traveled to Caracas as part of his job, citing lawyer-client privilege. “Your information is false and you are being deceived again,” he added.
Lawyers for Citgo’s new board sued a Rivera-owned consultancy last year for allegedly failing to meet its obligations under the contract. According to the lawsuit, Rivera, the former roommate of fellow Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, did not describe any work his company, Interamerican Consulting, did, preparing only two of the seven promised fortnightly progress reports while collecting the first $ 15. million of the agreed $ 50 million.
The goal of the contract was to improve PDVSA’s “long-term reputation” and “reputation” among “targeted interest groups” in the U.S., according to a copy seen by the PA.
Rivera’s political career was sparked amid several election-related controversies, including the orchestration of the stealthy funding of an unknown Democratic candidate to face his main rival in a race in South Florida Congress and a state investigation into whether it hid a $ 1 million contract with a gambling company. He has never been charged with a crime.
Rivera’s trade deal is also under federal criminal investigation in Miami because Rivera was never registered with the Justice Department, which would be necessary when pressuring U.S. officials on behalf of a foreign government.
Wiss also never registered as a foreign agent and there is no evidence that she herself is being investigated.
Wiss was a longtime lawyer at Hogan Lovells, where PDVSA was a client, before setting up her own boutique company, Wiss & Partners, in 2016.
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Researcher Randy Herschaft, an Associated Press researcher in New York, contributed to this report.
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Joshua Goodman on Twitter: @APJoshGoodman