{"id":1991,"date":"2026-06-18T18:01:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T18:01:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=1991"},"modified":"2026-06-18T18:01:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T18:01:14","slug":"judge-denies-bond-for-former-congressman-david-rivera-citing-flight-risk-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=1991","title":{"rendered":"Judge denies bond for former Congressman David Rivera, citing flight risk"},"content":{"rendered":"<article><!-- --><!-- --><!-- WPS-5038 -- removed the script from WPS and added the placeholder for trinity player --><!-- --><!-- --><!-- --><!-- --><!-- --><!-- --><!-- --><!-- CONTENT --><!--[--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Former Miami Congressman David Rivera must remain behind bars <u>while he awaits sentencing<\/u> for secretly lobbying for Venezuela, with a judge saying Thursday that ties to that country and questions about offshore cash make Rivera enough of a flight risk to deny him even a $7 million bond.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=1990\">Judge denies bond for former Congressman David Rivera, citing flight risk<\/a><\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Several of Rivera\u2019s prominent friends, including Miami-Dade Elections Supervisor Alina Garcia, offered their own homes as collateral to help Rivera come up with the funds needed to be <u>released from federal custody<\/u> if a judge agreed to a bond amount.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>But federal prosecutors warned Rivera, 60, was a risk of fleeing the country before his July 20 sentencing hearing, where he faces a prison sentence of 10 years or more.<\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>U.S. District Judge Melissa Damian sided with prosecutors. She cited Rivera\u2019s business dealings in Venezuela \u2014 before his trial, Rivera asked court permission to travel to the country on a business trip related to political consulting \u2014 and a \u201clack of clarity\u201d about overseas financial assets belonging to Rivera, who in the past reported $100,000 in a bank account in Taiwan and $50,000 in Haiti.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=1988\">State board delays UF president vote over governance concerns<\/a><\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Damian said Rivera gave no sign of wanting to break any court rules before and <u>during the trial<\/u>, which ended May 1 with a guilty verdict. But the judge wrote that \u201ccircumstances have dramatically changed since the jury\u2019s guilty verdict\u201d convicting him of violating a federal law requiring someone to register when lobbying for a foreign government.<\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cRivera now faces the very real prospect of a lengthy prison sentence,\u201d Damian wrote in the order released Thursday. The order also acknowledged Rivera\u2019s \u201cstrong family and community ties,\u201d citing support by Garcia and others.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>In a statement, Rivera lawyer David Weinstein said the ruling was a disappointment and that the legal team believes \u201cour client is not a risk of flight and that we satisfied our burden to prove that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=1987\">Planning a holiday road trip? Gas prices have dropped in Florida. Check your area<\/a><\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--]--><!-- --><!-- --><!-- --><!-- --><\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A judge said while the one-time lobbyist has strong local ties, prosecutors had a point in citing connections to Venezuela and offshore financial resources.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1989,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1991","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-miami-dade-county"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Judge denies bond for former Congressman David Rivera, citing flight risk - Florida Moving Chronicle<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=1991\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Judge denies bond for former Congressman David Rivera, citing flight risk - 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MARCH 24: Former Florida Congressman David Rivera speaks to the media outside of the James Lawrence King Federal Justice building before Secretary of State Marco Rubio testifies in his case on March 24, 2026, in Miami, Florida. 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MARCH 24: Former Florida Congressman David Rivera speaks to the media outside of the James Lawrence King Federal Justice building before Secretary of State Marco Rubio testifies in his case on March 24, 2026, in Miami, Florida. Rubio was scheduled to testify in the criminal trial of Rivera, who is accused of secretly lobbying for the Venezuelan government during the first Trump administration. Rivera has denied wrongdoing. 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