Rep. Brian Mast (R-Fla.) is returning more than $5,000 in campaign donations from a Florida businessman accused of defrauding people of millions of dollars in a marketing scam.

The freshman lawmaker received $5,400 in campaign contributions last year from Scott Cooper, president of World Patent Marketing. The donations, in March 2016, came a week after Cooper’s company put out a news release announcing Mast as a member of its advisory board.

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Mast denied any involvement with the company, including its advisory board, in a story first reported by POLITICO. Now a spokesman for the congressman, who represents part of Palm Beach County, says he will be returning the money from Cooper.

Cooper and his company are accused by the Federal Trade Commission of bilking millions of dollars from thousands of customers through a patent scam. A district court in Florida agreed to an FTC request to freeze the company’s assets earlier this month.

Cooper has frequently posted about Mast on his company’s social media sites, including a photo of the two together at a party last month celebrating the lawmaker’s congressional victory. But Mast said he doesn’t know Cooper well and has only met him face-to-face on two occasions.

"He does know me, just like thousands of other people who supported me," Mast said when asked why Cooper attended his swearing-in party. "This is stuff taken off social media, and Facebook. I never authorized it."