WASHINGTON, D.C. – Yesterday, Senator Rick Scott sent a letter to the lobbying firm Wiss & Partners LLP after reports revealed that the firm was hired for $6 million in 2017 by Nicolas Maduro’s socialist government in Venezuela to lobby on its behalf against U.S. sanctions.

Read the Senator’s letter February 2, 2021

Ms. Marcia Wiss
Wiss & Partners, LLP
800 17th St NW
Washington, D.C. 20006

Ms. Wiss:

It has recently come to my attention that your firm was hired for $6 million in 2017 by Nicolas Maduro’s socialist government in Venezuela to lobby on its behalf against U.S. sanctions. If true, this news is shocking and extremely concerning.

As I am sure you are aware, Nicolas Maduro is starving and terrorizing the Venezuelan people. Tens of thousands of men, women and children are dying at the hands of this ruthless dictator. It’s a genocide. There is not a word strong enough to describe the horror I saw when I traveled to the Colombian-Venezuelan border. I saw children starving to death; families traveling hours into Colombia just for a meal.

No business in the United States should have any contact with Maduro’s government, let alone willingly take money to represent its interests or lobby on its behalf. It is inexplicable. Further, the lengthy delay in the required public reporting that mentioned your relationship with Maduro’s government is concerning and unacceptable.

As Governor of Florida and now as U.S. Senator, I have remained committed to fighting for freedom and democracy across the globe. The United States has taken strong action to hold Maduro accountable and to end his ruthless regime, but this fight is not over. That’s why it is so disturbing to hear reports that your firm decided not to support this fight, and instead stood with Maduro. 

Your choice to represent a dangerous dictator who is against everything this country was built on has consequences, and I urge you to be transparent as to your actions on behalf of the regime, return these funds, and rethink working for Maduro or other murderous regimes in the future.

Sincerely,

Rick Scott

United States Senator

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