Fabián Basabe

Basabe was born in New York City to an American mother and an Ecuadorian father. In 1987, Basabe's family moved to Miami, where his parents operated a hotel. He graduated from Cheshire Academy.[2] He studied international relations at Pepperdine University before moving to Manhattan, where he became a socialite and television personality.[3][4]

Prior to entering politics, Basabe appeared in the reality television series Filthy Rich: Cattle Drive. He was elected to the Florida House of Representatives in November 2022.[5][6]

In 2021, Basabe filed to run for Miami Beach City Commissioner, but was removed from the ballot when it was found he did not meet the Miami Beach one-year residency requirement.[7]

Basabe describes himself as fiscally conservative and socially liberal.[8][9]

The Miami New Times reported Basabe's encounter with U.S. Marshals in August 2020, when "armed agents surrounded him on his boat in a marina near Charleston, South Carolina." According to the report, "agents were acting on an outstanding warrant after Basabe allegedly failed to address a criminal charge arising from a Miami Beach incident in which he grabbed a neighbor's phone." Basabe was extradited from South Carolina to Florida.[10] State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle asked Governor DeSantis to reassign Basabe's case to a different jurisdiction after Basabe repeatedly tried to influence the prosecutor.[11]

In 2016, Basabe was charged with misdemeanor disorderly conduct in Miami Beach after he climbed on the roof of a car and shouted at pedestrians as the vehicle traveled down Washington Avenue.[10]

In July 2023, two male aides filed complaints alleging Basabe sexually harassed them, saying he told them he wanted to have sex and wanted to be a “bottom” while they could be “tops.” A legislative aide said Basabe slapped him on the buttocks during a visit to a local elementary school and said, "I want all of that butt." A volunteer in Basabe's office claimed that Basabe instructed him to openly flirt with him when they were at the state capitol. Both men say Basabe showed them a photo of a naked man on his phone. Basabe denied the accusations, calling them "ridiculous."[12]

On April 13, 2023, CBS 4 Miami reported an allegation that Basabe physically assaulted his 25-year-old legislative aide. In a statement to CBS 4, the aide claimed Basabe had been drinking after Governor Ron DeSantis's inauguration on January 3, before slapping him in the face and demanding he stand in a corner. The law firm hired by the Florida House leadership to conduct an investigation into the slapping concluded that the incident was "inconclusive."[13]

On July 6, 2023, the aide and an intern filed a lawsuit in Leon County, Florida, asserting that Basabe battered both of them, and the aide and his mother have alleged that Basabe defamed them after Basabe posted a Twitter statement about them calling them a mother-son con duo, and claiming that an investigation conducted by a law firm has concluded "rightly in [his] favor" but which had, in fact, been found to be "inconclusive." The lawsuit was later amended by the aide and the intern to add three counts of sexual harassment.