David Rivera’s prominent friends offer their cash and homes to help him post bail

As he sits in a federal prison awaiting sentencing on criminal charges related to his lobbying work for an American subsidiary of Venezuela’s oil company, David Rivera’s prominent friends are sticking by him publicly and financially.

Alina Garcia, Miami-Dade’s elected supervisor of elections, offered to put up her home as security for the former congressman’s bail. Modesto “Mitch” Maidique, a former president of Florida International University, pledged $100,000 toward the money Rivera would need to post bail and be free until his sentencing hearing.

Juan Carlos Zapata, a former Miami-Dade commissioner who served with Rivera, 60, in the Florida House, said the two have known each other for 40 years. “Over those four decades, two constants defined David’s public life: his opposition to the evils of communism and his commitment to the welfare of our community,” Zapata wrote in offering to contribute his home to Rivera’s bail package.

Letters from those three and from other supporters were entered into the court record on May 19. Mark Glaeser, a database researcher, posted about the filings on social media on Sunday.

Garcia, a former Florida House member who once worked for Rivera in the Florida House and in Congress, praised her former boss in a May 8 letter to U.S. District Judge Melissa Damian, who presided over Rivera’s trial and guilty verdicts by a jury.

“He gave years of his life to public service, fighting for his constituents and for the values that define this community,” Garcia wrote. “He is a man who has always put Florida and its people first, and that is not the character of someone who walks away from his obligations.”

If Damian grants Rivera bail before his July 20 sentencing hearing, he would likely have to use either cash or real estate to secure money to be used as a security deposit in order to actually leave prison. That deposit would be forfeited if Rivera failed to show up as ordered for his sentencing hearing, where the judge will decide whether to send him back to prison for his conviction.

In a bid to get Damian to consider granting bail for Rivera, the former congressman’s lawyers submitted multiple letters from friends and former colleagues to both vouch for him and put their own finances at risk on his behalf.

Rivera’s co-defendant, Esther Nuhfer, was also convicted of failing to register as a federal agent for the work she and Rivera did on behalf of the American arm of Venezuela’s oil company, PVDSA.

Prosecutors said the two secured a $50 million contract for their work but didn’t register as agents advancing the interests of Venezuela under then-President Nicolás Maduro. While Damian allowed Nuhfer to post bond before her own July 20 sentencing hearing in the case, the judge agreed with federal prosecutors that Rivera could be a flight risk. He’s awaiting trial in a separate federal case on tax charges.

The letters from Rivera’s friends emphasized how much they trust him by putting up cash or the cash value of their homes that would be surrendered if Rivera fled authorities.

“I place my trust in David Rivera because I know him to be responsible, dependable and accountable,” wrote Maidique, who credited Rivera with securing crucial state funding needed to launch FIU’s medical school. “He never personally let me down as a colleague or as a friend.”