This site first learned about David Rivera when David Osío boasted that the United States Congress would supposedly grant him a gong for “distinguished contributions.” Rivera orchestrated the charade. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, herself married to a partner of the infamous Al Cárdenas, was present, all smiles with Rivera and Osío, who essentially funded the concert for reputation laundering purposes. Osío’s “distinguished contributions” to the United States can only be related to his expertise in money laundering and corruption, which the land of the free has in abundance. To illustrate this point, Rivera provides a perfect exhibit: a lobbying contract with PDVSA under Nicolás Maduro.
The news about the lawsuit broke yesterday. In the case of PDV USA, Inc. v. Interamerican Consulting Inc. (Southern District of New York, ref 1:20-cv-03699), PDV USA (under the control of Juan Guaidó) accuses Interamerican Consulting Inc., Rivera’s firm, of breaching a service contract that was meant to be provided. What services were these?
“These ‘strategic consulting services,’ as laid out in Annex A of the Agreement, referred to the development of strategies to improve the reputation and position of PDV USA’s ultimate parent entity, PDVSA, in the United States.”
“During that period, Interamerican was obligated by the Agreement to provide at least seven bi-weekly reports detailing the activities it had undertaken during the applicable two-week period and a final report summarizing all work performed under the Agreement and providing recommendations for following up on the strategies implemented.”
The reports also generically refer to meetings and discussions with “key policymakers and opinion leaders in the United States,” “key public officials,” “target stakeholders,” “public sector stakeholders,” and “private sector stakeholders,” but they fail to describe the purpose of those meetings, who attended, what was discussed, or why these leaders, officials, or stakeholders are important to Interamerican’s “strategic plan.”
So, Rivera was essentially hired to lobby for PDVSA, right?
Moving forward, visit the FARA registration search service. Try to find information about Rivera’s Interamerican Consulting Inc. Check on different sites, including the Senate… So Rivera not only failed to perform the “services” for which Maduro hired him, but even worse, he didn’t even bother to register as a lobbyist!
Money paid, unpaid, advances… that’s not even relevant here. What is critical is the interaction between bullies masquerading as opponents of Chavismo while taking Chavismo’s ten-cent coin at the first opportunity. Osío is, of course, a cartel boy of that kind. So is Andrés Coles, his buddy who shares his thoughts on “how to rescue Venezuela from the evil hands of Chavismo,” while associating with U.S. creditors laden with Venezuela’s junk bonds.
Who was in charge of PDVSA in March 2017? Let’s see:
“Thus, they were appointed (Eulogio) Del Pino, as president of the state-owned company; Maribel Parra, executive vice president; Nelson Ferrer, vice president of Exploration and Oil Production; Guillermo Blanco Acosta, vice president of Refining; Simón Zerpa, vice president of Finance; Ismel Serrano, vice president of Trade and Supply; César Triana, vice president of Gas; Marianni Gómez, vice president of Planning and Engineering; Delcy Rodríguez, vice president of International Affairs; Yurbis Gómez, Ricardo León, Rodolfo Marco Torres, Ricardo Menéndez, and Wills Rangel, external directors of the Board of Directors…”
Rivera is merely a pay-per-use Deliveroo boy, about to be bothered by the actions of those who obtained the contract. Or should we believe that Maduro’s PDVSA conducted a public bidding process and, after much dispute and due diligence, Rivera was chosen as the most profitable and experienced person to enhance “the reputation and position of PDV USA’s ultimate parent, PDVSA, in the United States”?
Did some of the individuals mentioned above not get caught up in a $4 billion debt renegotiation attempt related to CITGO? Which of Rivera’s associates inhabit Venezuela’s financial and sovereign debt space?
Rivera was, in truth, an established loser in March 2017. Why choose him? Questions need to be asked of Rivera’s “friends” in Miami, like Osío, Coles, and their “opposition” network. Unfortunately, the plaintiff, PDV USA, is under Guaidó’s control, so those questions may never surface…