MIAMI (AP) – Recent lobbying records show that Venezuela’s socialist government previously hired a longtime Democratic donor for $ 6 million, while lobbying to discourage the United States from imposing sanctions on the wealthy country. in oil.
The documents, which were released on Thursday, show that an American subsidiary of Venezuelan state-owned oil company PDVSA agreed to hire Marcia Wiss’s law firm in Washington in March 2017. This is the same month that it signed a consultancy contract of $ 50 million with former Congressman David infected by the Rivera scandal.
Wiss, an international trade attorney with a history of giving to the Democratic Party, including a $ 1,500 contribution to Joe Biden last year, denies doing any lobbying.
His former client – now under new management – said he was unaware of the full extent of his work to determine whether it constituted political activities for the benefit of Nicolás Maduro’s government. The subsidiary PDVSA also took the unusual step of retroactively registering as a foreign agent, disclosing contracts with Rivera, Wiss and a third party supplier.
The contracts came to light when allies of opposition leader Juan Guaidó worked with the Justice Department to uncover any corrupt dealings at another PDVSA wholly owned subsidiary, Houston-based Citgo, which for years served as a source of income for the party in power in Venezuela. A Guaido-appointed board took control of Citgo, the U.S.’s sixth largest independent refinery, after the Trump administration recognized him as Venezuela’s legitimate leader in 2019.
The same authorities appointed by Guaidó behind the new foreign lobbying processes last year sued Rivera for allegedly breaking his consultancy contract. Federal prosecutors in Miami are also investigating whether the Republican violated foreign lobbying rules.
By the time Wiss and Rivera were hired, Maduro was trying to get favors from the Trump administration, avoiding direct criticism of the new president of the United States, while channeling $ 500,000 to his inaugural committee through Citgo.
The contracts with Rivera and Wiss were part of an effort to discourage the then-new Trump administration and other governments from imposing sanctions on Venezuela, according to three people familiar with the business who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the politically sensitive issue. The payments came from a little known Delaware subsidiary, PDV USA, which provided services to PDVSA shareholders regardless of Citgo’s oil operations.
The three people said the holding company was regularly used by the Maduro government for political activities in the United States.
The charm offensive failed. Supported by exiles in Miami, Trump in the early days of his presidency received the wife of a prominent arrested Venezuelan activist and, in August 2017, imposed the first of the increasingly restrictive sanctions on PDVSA. Democrats applauded the tough line and the European Union began to attack Maduro’s allies with its own restrictions.
But in an equally diplomatic approach now being tried again with Biden government, Maduro sought for a time to ease hostilities with the United States, which had been Venezuela’s biggest trading partner for decades before sanctions brought him closer to US opponents like Russia, China and Iran. Also in the mix was Dep. Pete Sessions that the PDVSA tried to recruit to set up a meeting with the head of Exxon at the same time as the former CEO of the oil giant, Rex Tillerson, served as Trump’s secretary of state.
Wiss raised about half of the $ 6 million in monthly installments of $ 250,000 before being instructed, like Rivera, to bill PDVSA in Caracas in April 2018, according to the documents. On one occasion, she traveled to Caracas to meet with then Chancellor Delcy Rodríguez, who was a PDVSA adviser responsible for international relations, according to two of the three people familiar with the deal. Rodríguez is now Venezuela’s vice president.
Wiss said his law firm does not and has never provided lobbying services. She added that the company never invoiced or received payment from PDVSA or any non-American party – suggesting that half of the contract was not paid.
“Wiss was hired to provide PDV USA and its affiliates with only legal services,” she wrote in an email response to the questions.
But Guaido’s appointed PDV USA board found that hiring Wiss, Rivera and a third company, Caribbean Style Inc., required her to register under foreign lobbying rules. Texas-style Caribbean Style received $ 625,000 to place four full-page ads in the New York Times and the Washington Post.
“The content of pro-Venezuelan and anti-US sanctions in these ads suggests that their intention was to influence the U.S. government or the US public’s perspective on the rating of the U.S. sanctions regime for Venezuela,” said PDV USA in your order, which is dated. December 31th.
In total, PDVSA sent $ 89 million to PDV USA between 2015 and March 2017 to pay suppliers based in the United States, according to the document, which was first reported by the Foreign Lobby Report, a news service online that tracks the industry of influence.
PDV USA said that Wiss has provided updates on disputes involving PDVSA and advice on immigration, insurance and cryptocurrency.
But he added that “PDV USA is unaware of the full extent of the legal work that Wiss may have done under the retention regime”, suggesting that what Guaidó-appointed officials consider a high fee may have covered additional services for which they did not. there is record. The AP was unable to find any record of Wiss appearing on behalf of PDV USA or PDVSA in federal court or in the large number of commercial complaints against Venezuela before a World Bank arbitration panel.
Wiss did not say what legal services she provided, or whether she traveled to Caracas as part of her job, citing the attorney-client privilege. “Your information is false and you are being cheated again,” she added.
Lawyers for Citgo’s new board sued a Rivera-owned consulting firm last year for allegedly failing to fulfill its obligations under the contract. According to the lawsuit, Rivera, the former roommate of Republican colleague Senator Marco Rubio, did not describe any work that his company, Interamerican Consulting, actually did, preparing only two of the seven fortnightly progress reports promised by collecting the first $ 15 million of the $ 50 million agreed.
The purpose of the contract was to improve PDVSA’s “long-term reputation” and “position” among the “target stakeholders” in the United States, according to a copy read by the AP.
Rivera’s political career unfolded amid a number of election-related controversies, including orchestrating the secret financing of an unknown Democratic candidate to face his main rival in a run for Congress in South Florida and a state investigation to see if he hid it. a $ 1 million contract with a gambling company. He was never charged with a crime.
Rivera’s business is also under federal criminal investigation in Miami because Rivera never registered with the Department of Justice, which would be required to lobby American officials on behalf of a foreign government.
Wiss also never registered as a foreign agent and there is no evidence that she herself is under investigation.
Wiss was a longtime lawyer at Hogan Lovells, where PDVSA was a client, before opening her own boutique, Wiss & Partners, in 2016.
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Associated Press investigative researcher Randy Herschaft of New York contributed to this report.
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Joshua Goodman on Twitter: @APJoshGoodman