David M. Rivera

Rep-Elect Rivera Being Investigated Over $500K Received From Dog Track

Ryan J. Reilly | December 20, 2010, 11:22AM

David Rivera

Congressman-elect David M. Rivera (R-FL) is being investigated by the Miami-Dade state attorney's office for over $500,000 in secret payments from the owners of the Flagler Dog Track to a company tied to him, the Miami Herald reported.

Most of the money -- three payments totaling $510,000 to Millennium Marketing, a company co-managed by Rivera's 70-year-old mother -- was sent by Flagler Dog Track (now called the Magic City Casino) in early 2008, weeks after Rivera helped fund a political campaign to win voter approval for slot machines in Miami-Dade County.

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David Mauricio Rivera

Marco Rubio's Ex-Roomie Attacked Over Car Crash, Alleged Domestic Violence (VIDEO)

Ryan J. Reilly | August 20, 2010, 9:49AM

A 2002 flyer attacking current FL-25 House candidate David Rivera (R).

Meet David M. Rivera. In 1994, a woman named Jenia Dorticos filed a petition for a domestic-violence restraining order against him in Miami-Dade Circuit Court.

Now, meet David Mauricio Rivera. He's a Republican candidate for Congress in Florida's 25th district -- one that the National Republican Congressional Committee singled out as a "Young Gun." Since 2002, he's been a member of Florida House of Representatives, working his way up to his current position in which he oversees the state budget for education, transportation, housing and economic development.

Rivera has worked closely with GOP Senate nominee Marco Rubio. They are so close, in fact, that Rivera refers to himself as a "disciple" of Rubio, and the two owned a Tallahassee house together until last month, when it went into foreclosure (a fact Rivera initially denied).

And so begins the story of another strange election controversy in the Sunshine State, revealed in an joint investigation by the Miami Herald and a local television station.

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