Homebuilding magnate Mori Hosseini donated a pricey golf simulator to the Florida Governor’s Mansion in 2019, after Ron DeSantis took office, according to news reports released Wednesday.
The stories, first reported by Reuters and quickly followed by the Washington Post, were generating reaction from opponents and supporters of the former Volusia-Flagler congressman who’s now running for president.
Hosseini, who also serves as chairman of the Board of Trustees for the University of Florida, has been a prolific supporter of Republican candidates, particularly DeSantis, dating to his time in Congress.
The cost of the AboutGolf simulator starts at $27,500, while curved screen simulators cost at least $69,500, the Washington Post reported Wednesday.
The newspaper also reported, based on campaign finance disclosures, Hosseini also let DeSantis and his wife Casey use his private plane at least a dozen times and hosted DeSantis on a 2018 trip to play golf at the prestigious, exclusive Augusta National Golf Club.
Hosseini, chairman and CEO of the Daytona Beach-based ICI Homes, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday. However, in a statement released to Reuters, he said that the donation was “entirely permissible under Florida law.”
Hosseini also said that the simulator “was provided to the residence gym, as things have been in the past, for the use of the family, guests, and staff, during this and subsequent administrations.”
The Post cited a 2019 letter from James Uthmeier, who was at the time a lawyer working for the governor and is now chief of staff, to Hosseini acknowledging the loaned golf simulator equipment had been received.
“This equipment will be stored within the Florida Governor’s Mansion gym and will be returned to you immediately upon request. I have reviewed and approved the circumstances of this loan to the Mansion Commission and verify that it is permissible in accordance with the Governor’s Ethics Code and Florida Statutory Code,” Uthmeier’s letter states.
The Reuters report included confirmation from one of the installers, who traveled to Tallahassee from Ohio and instructed the governor on how to use the simulator equipment.
Gov. Ron DeSantis, shown campaigning at the 8th annual Basque Fry at the Corley Ranch in Gardnerville, Nevada, on Saturday, has had access to a pricy golf simulator in the Governor’s Mansion after it was lent by Mori Hosseini, a homebuilding magnate from Ormond Beach.
News of the loan generated swift reaction from some of DeSantis’ opponents who support former President Donald Trump’s bid for the 2024 Republican nomination for president.
“Ron DeSantis’ Florida Swamp in Action,” Trump ally Jason Miller tweeted with a link to the Post piece.
Rick Wilson, a Florida-based Republican strategist and the founder of the Lincoln Project tweeted: “Damn those elites with their golf simulators and private jet flights.”
Cryptid Politics, a Twitter account that supports DeSantis’ campaign, wrote: “WaPo tries hit piece on @RonDeSantis, buries lede that golf simulator loan was reviewed and approved as ethical according to FL Statutory Code.”
Whether the golf machine was a “gift” to the governor is a key question. Florida law requires all gifts of $100 or more to be reported.
“In my mind, it subverts the principle of why we require gifts to be disclosed,” Ben Wilcox, research director of Florida Integrity, a watchdog group, told Reuters.
However, Caroline Klancke, an attorney who is executive director of the Florida Ethics Institute, a nonprofit, suggested in an email to The News-Journal Wednesday the question of whether the golf simulator was a gift to the governor or an agency, the Governor’s Mansion Commission, would depend on several questions.
“Was it maintained in a public building for a public purpose, or alternatively, was it used for a purely private purpose?” she wrote. “Does the agency have rules governing such loans or donations of tangible personal property?”
Hosseini founded Volusia County-based ICI Homes in 1980, according to his University of Florida biography, and has built thousands of homes and created some of the largest master development communities in Florida. He also serves as board chairman at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.