“This is a guy who was at [Republican National Committee] functions, Trump Victory functions. He was at a lot of these things,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said. | Wilfredo Lee/AP Photo DeSantis: Indicted Ukrainian American was seen as a top Florida Trump supporter

TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday said an indicted Ukrainian American businessman was seen as “one of the top” Florida supporters of President Donald Trump.

It was a reference to Lev Parnas, who along with his business partner Igor Fruman, was an associate of Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, helping him investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, a Democratic presidential candidate and frequent target of Trump attacks.


DeSantis said he knows Parnas, but is less familiar with Fruman.

“This is a guy who was at [Republican National Committee] functions, Trump Victory functions. He was at a lot of these things,” DeSantis said after an event in Jupiter, which was livestreamed. “Was I think viewed as one of the top supporters of the president in Florida. It was like any other donor, nothing more than that.”

Parnas and Fruman, both based in South Florida, are facing two counts of conspiracy and one each of false statements and falsifying business records. The pair's being drawn into the swirling probe of Trump brings Florida into the U.S. House-led impeachment inquiry that is focusing on the work Giuliani did as Trump's personal lawyer.

Federal prosecutors allege the two funneled $325,000 to a Trump-aligned super PAC through Global Energy Partners, a company created shortly before the contribution was made.

It was “a scheme to funnel foreign money to candidates for federal and state office so that the defendants could buy potential influence with candidates, campaigns, and the candidate's governments,” read the indictment, which was unsealed last week.

Global Energy Partners also gave a $50,000 check to a DeSantis-controlled political committee in June 2018. Since the two foreign-born businessmen were indicted, DeSantis gave the money to the U.S. Treasury.

“I did not know any of this stuff that has come out at the time, seemed legit to us. Once we saw what had happened in the last week, we went ahead and disgorged that money to the treasury,” DeSantis said Wednesday. “And obviously had we know that was going to happen, we would have made a different decision at the time.”

The work Parnas and Fruman did with Giuliani included pushing Ukrainian prosecutors to look into unsubstantiated claims that as vice president, Biden used his clout to oust a Ukrainian prosecutor looking into a company where Hunter Biden, his son, was a board member.

Others, including the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, also wanted the prosecutor removed over corruption concerns

Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) also donated $20,400 the two gave his campaign and an affiliated committee to Shriners Hospitals for Children, his office announced last week.