ORLANDO, Fla. _ A photo and video emerged Monday of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis with Lev Parnas, one of the two Soviet-born businessmen arrested last week on charges of funneling foreign cash into U.S. elections, at DeSantis' election night victory party in Orlando last year.
The images come as the governor's office echoed its statements from last week that DeSantis had never met "one-on-one" with Parnas despite the $50,000 he and Igor Fruman, both South Florida residents, donated to the Friends of Ron DeSantis political committee in June 2018 via the company Global Energy Producers. Both are associates of President Donald Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani.
Parnas was also listed as a member of the steering committee for a July 2018 fundraiser for DeSantis held at the Alaqua Country Club in Seminole County. Fellow committee members, however, said they have no memory of Parnas and aren't sure he attended.
A Tampa Bay Times photo taken Nov. 6 at the Rosen Center in Orlando showed DeSantis face to face with Parnas during his victory celebration.
Journalist Joey Roulette also captured video of Parnas behind DeSantis while talking to the news media that night when he defeated Democrat Andrew Gillum to become governor.
Last week, Helen Ferre, a DeSantis spokeswoman, said in an email that DeSantis directed the PAC to return the $50,000 from Parnas and Fruman to the federal government.
Ferre also said DeSantis may have attended large campaign events with Parnas and Fruman, but he has not had any personal meetings with them to her knowledge.
Asked Monday to comment on the photo and video, she wrote, "Parnas attended many Republican campaign events and Governor DeSantis' election night event was open to the public. Governor DeSantis has not met one-on-one nor spoken to Parnas since taking office."
The Florida Democratic Party said in a tweet Monday, "There are a lot of questions Ron DeSantis must answer about his relationship with Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman. Giving back their $50k isn't enough."
A federal indictment released Thursday accused Parnas and Fruman of scheming to circumvent campaign finance law to influence candidates for state and federal office.
While the indictment doesn't specifically mention DeSantis or other Florida candidates, records showed Fruman also contributed $25,000 to a political committee affiliated with DeSantis' GOP primary candidate, former agriculture commissioner Adam Putnam, as well as $20,400 to Sen. Rick Scott's campaign and victory fund and $2,400 to Republican Congressman Brian Mast.
Mast said last week he would return the money, and Scott followed suit on Monday.
Parnas was also listed as one of nine members of the "Donald J. Trump Jr. Executive Steering Committee" for a DeSantis fundraiser held in Alaqua on July 18, 2018. The president's son, who was later pictured with Parnas in a Facebook post in May, was scheduled to appear that night along with Fox News Host Jeanine Pirro.
Eric Holm, of Winter Park, who along with his wife, Diane, were listed as members of the steering committee, said he didn't know Parnas.
"We contributed money to Ron DeSantis over the years, and other than that I don't know anything," Holm said.
John Hamlin, president of the Ormond Beach marketing company Hamlin and Associates and another committee member, said he didn't remember if Parnas was at the event.
"Honestly I'm kind of new to the political arena and felt a little like a duck out of water," Hamlin said. "I didn't establish any relationships and I can't even tell you what we talked about."
Hamlin said he was disillusioned by news of the Parnas indictment.
"I finally got a look at political (fundraising)," he said. "There's so much fraud, waste and abuse, and that's (why) I got involved, to try to shine a light in areas that were very dark. ... It's so corrupt, and it is on both sides."
.jpg?w=600)
