Republican presidential candidate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis took more than $11,000 in campaign donations from the CEO of a Tampa refrigerant company backed by China, according to a report.

According to a report in the Miami Herald, the donation was “just the latest in years” of financial support that the company, iGas USA, has given DeSantis. The report said that DeSantis even held a rally at the company’s Tampa complex.

The report said:

The rally and contributions are part of a recent wave of political giving by iGas and entities associated with its CEO, Xianbin (Ben) Meng. All told, the companies and employees have made more than $1.1 million in federal and state political contributions in the past five years, with 98% of the money going to Republican candidates and committees. The lion’s share of that money, $340,000, went to DeSantis and committees affiliated with him.

The report said that Meng had donated to former President Donald Trump in 2016 but that DeSantis is the only Republican presidential contender iGas or its employees have given to this presidential campaign cycle.

The newspaper said corporate records and court filings show that a state-controlled Chinese company owns about a third of iGas USA, and that American competitors of the company have protested the company’s import of “cheap, Chinese-made refrigerants,” saying it has hurt domestic producers of refrigerant.

The report added:

iGas USA was created in 2018 as a joint venture between Meng and Zhejiang Juhua, a major Chinese manufacturer of refrigerants that the Commerce Department determined to be controlled by the Chinese government.

The company increased donations to lawmakers as Congress considered a bill phasing out the type of refrigerants that iGas imports from China known as “hydrofluorocarbons” used to cool refrigerators and air conditioners but are considered contributors of climate change.

iGas USA had “some success” lobbying Congress for changes to the bill, the report said.

The company’s CEO, Meng, did not respond to a detailed list of questions from the Herald about the company’s business practices, ownership and political activity.

The report said iGas-connected companies and employees have increased their giving from just over $10,000 in 2019 to more than $800,000 in 2022, with DeSantis being the “biggest beneficiary of that giving.”

The report said committees tied to DeSantis have received more than $340,000 from Meng, his companies and employees, including in-kid contributions connected with the rally in Tampa.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis arrives for a bill signing ceremony at the Florida National Guard Robert A. Ballard Armory on June 07, 2021 in Miami, Florida. The bills are aimed to combat foreign influence and corporate espionage in Florida from governments like China. (Joe Raedle/Getty)

The DeSantis campaign said in a statement to the Herald that its reported looked “silly in the face of his actions and record towards China as a governor.”

“Since becoming governor, Ron DeSantis has worked tirelessly to root out CCP influence and guard against it,” said DeSantis’s campaign press secretary Bryan Griffin.

The article listed a number of other Florida lawmakers who have benefitted from donations connected to iGas. A former U.S. Federal Election Commission enforcement attorney, Saurav Ghosh, called the relationship between iGas and the politicians receiving money “corruption light.”

“You have a corporation that is using its money to get political influence makers behind it,” said Ghosh, who is now at the non-partisan Campaign Legal Center.

While federal campaign finance laws prevent contributions from foreign nationals or corporations, it does not apply to companies that are “partially owned” by a foreign company, like iGas, the Herald reported.

Meng is a U.S. citizen, but lived in China until several years before becoming a certified air conditioning contractor in January 2003. He reportedly created a “network” of refrigerant and air conditioning companies that have have primarily imported products directly from China.

The report is the latest in a string of stories about DeSantis’s history with Chinese-connected companies, as he and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, another 2024 Republican presidential governor have traded barbs over who has been more welcoming of Chinese business to their states.

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