Gov. Ron DeSantis said that a Soviet-born South Florida businessman facing federal campaign-finance charges was rejected for a seat on a transition committee as DeSantis prepared to take office in January.

DeSantis, however, declined further discussion of post-election interactions with Lev Parnas, who, along with fellow businessman Igor Fruman, has been arrested on campaign-finance charges involving the pro-Trump super PAC America First Action.

The governor has become swept up in the case, in part because of pictures of Parnas at DeSantis fundraisers last year. After the campaign-finance charges emerged, DeSantis announced he was turning over to the federal government the $50,000 that Parnas and Fruman contributed to his political committee through a Delaware corporation called Global Energy Producers.