From Florida Politics:
Brian Ballard testifies he previously warned David Rivera’s firm about disclosure concerns related to Venezuela work
By Jacob Ogles, Florida Politics, April 1, 2026
Ballard said Rivera denied his company was involved with PDVSA, but that Rivera said in a May 2020 text that a “plot was hatched by Julio Borges during our trip to (the Dominican Republic) in February 2017. So you’re part of it too!!!”
That prompted a fissure between Ballard and Rivera, two Washington lobbyists rooted in Florida. Ballard subsequently blocked Rivera’s number on his phone.
Borges was President of the Venezuela National Assembly in 2017 and had met in the Dominican Republican with Ballard and Rivera about working with opposition leaders, Ballard testified, but nothing ultimately came of the discussions.
“I felt like this is some attempt to make me into something I had no idea about, nor would have anything to do with,” Ballard testified, according to Law360.
Around the same time, Ballard said his firm was in talks to represent news network Globovisión about hopes of broadcasting on U.S. television, and met with other political figures. But he said he advised Esther Nuhfer, a consultant working with Rivera, that he would not become involved in any work that wasn’t properly disclosed under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
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