The CEO of a large residential developer and chair of University of Florida’s board of trustees may have slipped a few eyebrow-raising donations to Gov. Ron DeSantis, The Washington Post reported. Records obtained by the Post reveal Mori Hosseini gifted the governor a golf simulator “to be possessed on loan at the Governor’s Mansion for an undisclosed term,” a 2019 letter states. The AboutGolf simulator, installed in the “Governor’s Cabana,” is typically custom fitted to a space and starts at $27,500, but can run up to $69,500 for ones with curved screens. The letter claims the loan is permissible under the governor’s ethics code, and a DeSantis rep said “it was accepted and coordinated by staff and approved by legal counsel.” But the lending didn’t stop there. Finance disclosures reviewed by the Post say DeSantis and his wife borrowed Hosseini’s private plane at least 12 times, once as recently as February. The Ethics Commission nor Hosseini responded to requests for comment from the Post.
