Associated Press
Gov. Ron DeSantis will return a $50,000 contribution he received from two South Florida businessmen now facing charges for allegedly helping President Donald Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani investigate political opponents in Ukraine.
DeSantis spokeswoman Helen Ferre said in an email Thursday the money given to a political action committee would be returned to the federal government. Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman are charged with funneling foreign money into U.S. politics.
That included the $50,000 given to a DeSantis-affiliated PAC in June 2018 by a company linked to Parnas and Fruman called Global Energy Partners. That was before Trump endorsed DeSantis for governor.
Ferre says the allegations surrounding Global Energy Partners are troubling.
Parnas runs a different company in Boca Raton and Fruman owns condos in Sunny Isles Beach.
Records show they used wire transfers from a corporate entity they controlled to make a $325,000 donation to the America First Action committee in 2018. Records that became public through a lawsuit show that the corporate entity reported as making the transaction was not the true source of the money.
A lawyer for the men, John Dowd, hung up on an Associated Press reporter calling about the case.
2 comments
Amy Roberts
October 10, 2019 at 7:39 pm
I believe Gov. DeSantis is already coupled to this train. Returning the money AFTER these arrests, will not help.
Anonymous
October 11, 2019 at 1:36 am
FOIA request submitted for records from ron DeSantis All messages from text or email to or about Igor Fruman and Lev Parnas.
“ The purpose of those donations was to help gain access to recreational marijuana licenses so that they could form a marijuana business in the United States, according to the document, but that venture did not ultimately come to fruition.”
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/florida-businessmen-who-helped-giuliani-ukraine-arrested-campaign-finance-charges-n1064606
Comments are closed.