Former Florida Congressman was fined $ 456,000 in campaign finance

Former Representative David Rivera (R-Fla.) Was fined $ 456,000 by a federal court on Tuesday for his role in a campaign finance plan.

The U.S. Southern District Court of Florida ordered Rivera to pay the money to the Federal Election Commission (FEC), which charged him in 2017 for secretly providing money to a primary challenger to his eventual Democratic opponent in the 2012 elections, said details set forth in the court order.

Rivera lost that election to the former Democratic Rep. Joe GarciaJose (Joe) Antonio Garcia Overnight: Biden honors McCain at Phoenix memorial | US Considers Sending Captured ISIS Fighters to Gitmo and Iraq | Senators Press Trump to End Civil War in Yemen Biden Pays Tribute to McCain During Emotional Remembrance Mueller Charges: Congressional Candidate Asked Russian Agents for Information About Opponent MORE (Fla.).

The committee accused Rivera of starting the plan in April 2012 when he commissioned an associate, Ana Sol Alliegro, to offer Justin Sternad, one of Garcia’s three main challengers, financial support for his campaign. Sternad accepted the offer, and Alliegro spent the following months transferring money to Sternad’s campaign.

The court rejected the initial complaint against Rivera in 2018, and the FEC amended the complaint in January 2019, accusing him of knowingly channeling campaign money “on behalf of another.”

The FEC said in a press release that it was seeking a $ 456,000 civil fine.

The court ruled that Rivera funneled $ 75,927.31 in campaign money to Sternad. In addition to the fine, the court also permanently banned Rivera from violating that campaign statute again.

In her Tuesday orderUS District Judge Marcia Cooke described Rivera’s actions as “blatant,” adding that there was a chance that his conduct would continue to show that he continued to run after the plan.

Perhaps on the basis of the Court’s stopping Rivera from engaging in similar illegal behavior in the future, “that will be the trick” to persuade Rivera – a former US congressman – to stop breaking the law, ”Cooke wrote.

Rivera told The Miami Herald in a text that the order is “all based on lies, innuendo, rumors and fake news.”

Tuesday’s warrant was the first criminal warrant Rivera faced over the plan, according to the Herald, which revealed it in 2012. The newspaper noted that Sternad and Alliegro had been convicted of criminal charges.