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Ron DeSantis in the Clear After Not Disclosing $28K Golf Simulator Gift

The Florida Commission on Ethics chairperson—the wife of DeSantis’ former chief of staff—said the governor didn’t have to disclose a gift to “the state.”

Florida officials determined this week that Ron DeSantis wasn’t required to disclose that a donor gifted him a $28,000 golf simulator in 2019, the Tampa Bay Times reported. The decision means the Florida governor has skirted any trouble for the exchange by claiming the simulator, which was installed inside his Tallahassee mansion, was a gift to the state and not to him personally. The state’s commission on ethics, which is led by the wife of DeSantis’ former chief of staff, released a statement Wednesday to announce the ethics complaint was dismissed. That statement said the decision was reached in part because the simulator’s donor, Morteza “Mori” Hosseini, told state investigators it was meant for DeSantis but was also “to be used more broadly by public employees.” Hosseini is the CEO of one of the state’s largest residential home builders and is a key DeSantis ally. He donated over $1 million to DeSantis’ super PAC before DeSantis crashed out of the presidential race in January, the Times reported.