Rivera was arrested on December 5, 2022, and charged with failure to register as a foreign agent and money laundering conspiracy.

Both his father, a cab driver, and his mother Daisy, a driving instructor, had fled Cuba after the political rise of Fidel Castro.

He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree with honors in Political Science from Florida International University in 1986 and his MPA in 1994.

[3] After college, Rivera worked as Public Affairs Director for the Washington D.C.–based Valladares Foundation, an international human rights NGO.

[7][8] In January 2009, Rivera filed to run for the state senate seat being vacated by J. Alex Villalobos.

This created an opening in the seat and prompted Rivera to announce he would run for Florida's 25th congressional district on February 25, 2010.

In March 2016, Rivera announced he would run for the open state house district 118, but lost to Democrat Robert Asencio by 53 votes.

[16] In April 2012, Rivera initiated a scheme to secretly fund candidate Justin Lamar Sternad in the Democratic primary as a way to weaken his eventual 2012 general election opponent, Joe Garcia, when he met with his associate, Miami campaign consultant Ana Sol Alliegro, and directed her to approach Sternad with an offer to provide financial support to his primary campaign.

[17] The Federal Election Commission (FEC) accused Rivera of illegally making contributions in the name of another person when he made multiple cash payments to third-party vendors providing services to the Sternad campaign from July 14, 2012, to August 8, 2012.

Rivera also took steps to hide his identity and directed others not to disclose him as the true source of those cash payments, the FEC complaint stated.