DeSantis’ relationship with Parnas and Fruman came into the spotlight after the two were indicted in October. | AP Photo DeSantis had January meeting scheduled with Giuliani associate

TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Ron DeSantis was scheduled to meet with a now-indicted Ukrainian American businessman and campaign donor days after he took office, an encounter his aides now say never occurred.

DeSantis spokesperson Helen Aguirre Ferré said the governor was scheduled to meet with Lev Parnas, an associate of President Donald Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, on Jan. 18, 10 days after DeSantis took the oath of office.


Ferré said the meeting — at a private terminal at the Palm Beach International Airport — was put on the governor’s calendar by the Republican Party of Florida, which was led at the time by Susie Wiles, a political strategist who had helped lead the DeSantis campaign and transition.

"The RPOF, under the direction of Susie Wiles, scheduled a political meeting with Lev Parnas at the FBO of Palm Beach International Airport but no substantive meeting occurred with anyone there,” Ferré told POLITICO in a written statement on Tuesday. “The governor shook a few hands with folks at the airport and boarded his flight to Tallahassee.”

DeSantis’ top advisers engineered Wiles’ ouster as an advisor to President Donald Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign in September after questioning her loyalty.

Wiles disputed Ferre’s characterization of the January airport event.

“That is an incorrect statement,” Wiles said in a written statement to POLITICO. “I had nothing to do with scheduling a meeting between the governor and Mr. Parnas, nor do I know whether such a meeting took place.”

The encounter comes to light as federal prosecutors are pursuing charges against Parnas and his partner, Igor Fruman, alleging the two men used foreign cash to influence the 2016 elections.

DeSantis previously has declined to answer questions about whether he met with Parnas or Fruman after taking office. His office provided the statement a week after POLITICO first asked for comment.

The meeting was scheduled on the same day DeSantis chose Republican Wendy Link to serve as Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections. The governor had suspended former supervisor Susan Bucher, a Democrat, because of what he said were her office’s failures during a 2018 recount that included DeSantis’ razor-thin victory over Democrat Andrew Gillum.

DeSantis’ relationship with Parnas and Fruman came into the spotlight after the two were indicted in October.

Parans was spotted in a number of pictures with DeSantis, including during a last-minute campaign trip across the state. The Tampa Bay Times reported the two were in the VIP section at DeSantis’ inauguration. Parnas also sought to get a spot on DeSantis’ transition team though campaign fundraiser Heather Barker.

The men tried but failed to break into Florida’s medical marijuana business earlier this year, first by trying to invest millions of dollars into a cannabis venture looking to buy a license, then trying to buy a license themselves. The efforts were largely brushed off by industry insiders who saw the two as naïve.

When questions about the two first emerged, DeSantis’ office said they might have attended some political events, but that DeSantis had no real relationship with the men.

Last month DeSantis acknowledged knowing Parnas and told the Times that he likely met the two at a pro-Israel event in March 2018 when he was running in the GOP gubernatorial primary.

Since that time, DeSantis has declined to address questions about the two, including who introduced them.

DeSantis' political committee last month disgorged a $50,000 campaign contribution from Global Energy Partners, a company founded by Parnas and Fruman, sending the money to the U.S. Treasury.

Federal prosecutors say the two also used the company to funnel $325,000 in foreign cash to a super PAC supporting Trump.

Both men have pleaded not guilty.