In the summer of 2011, the arrest of U.S. Rep. David Rivera seemed all but certain.
Agents with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement had waded through piles of credit-card receipts and banking records, tracing thousands of dollars from Rivera?s political campaigns to his personal accounts. Miami-Dade prosecutors were preparing a ?draft? complaint charging the Republican congressman with 52 counts of theft, money laundering and racketeering.
The lengthy probe of Rivera?s finances ?unequivocally explains the theft and/or fraud of campaign funds,? FDLE inspector Brett Lycett wrote in a July 5, 2011, e-mail to a prosecutor. ?We believe the violations are quite evident.?
But in the ensuing months ? after Rivera?s lawyer poked holes in the case ? the investigators? confidence gave way to prosecutors? increasing skepticism about the potential charges. The 52-count complaint accusing Rivera of systematic misspending of campaign funds was never filed; instead, prosecutors would write a 16-page memo explaining why they believed they could not arrest Rivera for anything.
Newly released e-mails and other records from the Rivera investigation show the increasing tension between the FDLE and the Miami-Dade state attorney?s office as the case dragged on through this past April, when prosecutors ? under pressure from the FDLE to make a decision ? finally dropped the high-profile case.
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