Former Florida Rep. David Rivera (R) was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison Friday for his undisclosed role in a multimillion-dollar lobbying campaign on behalf of the Venezuelan government under the first Trump administration.

Rivera, a longtime friend and former roommate of Secretary of State Marco Rubio, has been in federal custody without bond since a Miami jury convicted him in May on charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering and other crimes connected to this $50 million lobbying scheme.

The campaign ran from 2017 to 2018 under ousted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s regime. Rivera was not serving in the House when he and his consultant, Esther Nuhfer, secretly lobbied U.S. lawmakers and members of the first Trump administration on behalf of PDV USA, the U.S. affiliate of Venezuela’s state-run oil company.

The pair was found guilty of violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) after a weeks-long trial, during which Rubio, Texas Rep. Pete Sessions (R) and a top Washington lobbyist testified. All asserted they were unaware of a contract between PDV USA and Rivera’s consulting company.

Prosecutors alleged in an 11-page indictment unsealed in 2022 that Venezuela’s then-foreign minister, Delcy Rodríguez, recruited Rivera to try to convince the Trump administration to ease sanctions on the country. Rodríguez has served as the acting Venezuelan president since the U.S. arrested Maduro in January.

President Trump opted not to loosen these restrictions, instead moving to sanction Maduro’s government within his first six months in the White House.

The indictment also claimed Rivera and Nuhfer signed a contract to receive a total of $50 million from the scheme — broken up into five $5 million payments and one amounting to $25 million. The pair ultimately received about $20 million after the company terminated the contract, prosecutors said.

Rivera’s attorneys argued that the defendants operated in good faith and were not required to disclose their work under FARA. The defense lawyers previously applied for a presidential pardon in June and plan to appeal this sentence, according to The Associated Press.

The Republican represented Florida’s 25th Congressional District in the House for one term from 2011 to 2013. He was fined $456,000 in 2021 following several state and federal investigations into his role in an improper campaign finance scheme.

His consultant was given a five-year prison sentence in August for her role in the illegal lobbying, the Miami Herald reported.