An administrative law judge recommended former U.S. Rep. David Rivera should pay $57,821.96 in fines and restitution for ethics violations, according to the Miami Herald.

Last year Judge W. David Watkins found the Republican congressman for Florida improperly received state travel reimbursements and did not properly disclose his finances. The state's ethics commission referred back to Judge Watkins for a recommendation on penalties.

In the 38-page recommendation released Thursday, the judge suggested Rivera pay a $16,500 fine plus $41,321.96 in restitution. The judge also stated the former representative should face censure and reprimand.

Rivera served Congress between 2010 and 2012. In his time in office he worked as a budget chief in the Florida House of Representatives.

He ran in 2012 but ultimately lost. He recently expressed an intention to run again for the House next year.

Rivera was initially charged with 11 ethics violations in October 2012. He eventually successfully disputed four of the charges and brought the full charges down to seven.

His charges included accepting state reimbursements for travel already paid for by campaign accounts. The ethics commission found Rivera reimbursed himself $2,091.44.

Of the $16,500 recommended fine, $10,000 of it would be for the illegal reimbursements. 

The rest of the fine is $1,000 for each of the five years Rivera submitted improper financial disclosures, plus $1,500 for failing to turn in his final disclosure within a 60-day period after leaving the statehouse.

The judge's recommendation will be returned to the ethics commission who will then be responsible for issuing an order on whether Rivera violated state laws. The final decision is left up to the House Speaker Steve Crisafulli. The Speaker is a Merritt Island Republican and served with Rivera from 2008-10.

Rivera announced on Friday he intends to contest the judge's recommendations. He can also appeal the ethics commission's eventual final decision.

"This is a long way from over and I have not yet begun to fight!" he wrote in an email to the Miami Herald.