David Rivera, the embattled congressman who’s seat is a top pick-up opportunity for Democrats, was caught lying about the federal and state investigations into his financial records during a recent testy interview with Univision. The watchdog group CREW highlighted Rivera’s denial and lies in their post below. The investigations have already hampered Rivera’s fundraising — if this interview is any indication his skeletons and baggage will continue to haunt him in every interview.
CREW: In denial: Rep. David Rivera lies about investigations, his mother’s company
3/20/2012, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington
During a recent Univision interview, Rep. David Rivera (R-FL) denied any knowledge of the state or federal investigations focused on his personal and campaign finances. Rep. Rivera asserted that all his finances are public. It is true Rep. Rivera filed publicly available personal financial disclosure forms, but that is not the issue. The problem is, his forms were riddled with inaccuracies and inconsistencies.
For example, during his tenure as a state representative, Rep. Rivera repeatedly claimed his main source of income outside of his work for the legislature came from consulting for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Yet somehow, neither USAID nor the State Department had any record of Rep. Rivera working for them. Rep. Rivera later amended all his reports to remove any references to income other than his state legislative salary.
Remarkably, during the interview, Rep. Rivera also denied his mother, Daisy Magarino, was involved with Millennium Marketing, Inc., the company at the center of the investigations. Maybe he forgot corporation records are also public and his mother is listed as the company’s vice president.
Rep. Rivera was featured in CREW’s Most Corrupt report, and details about the multiple investigations into Rep. Rivera have been extensively reported by The Miami Herald.