A Florida grand jury has concluded that $10 million tied to a Medicaid settlement was misappropriated by the DeSantis administration after the money moved through the Hope Florida Foundation and ultimately helped finance political activity during the 2024 election.
According to CBS News Miami, which obtained a copy of the still-sealed grand jury report, jurors determined that money from Florida’s settlement with health care company Centene was diverted away from state coffers and routed through organizations that later sent millions to political committees opposing Amendment 3, the unsuccessful 2024 ballot initiative to legalize recreational marijuana.
The grand jury described the transfer as “part of a sophisticated scheme to fund political activities.”
The Hope Florida funds originated with a settlement involving allegations that Centene overbilled Florida through its pharmacy benefit operations connected to the Florida Healthy Kids program. According to CBS News Miami, Florida calculated that it was owed approximately $67 million.
The settlement sat unresolved for years before state officials moved to finalize it in September 2024, according to the grand jury account reported by CBS. An earlier proposal called for the full amount to go back to Florida, but revised terms eventually directed $57 million to the state and $10 million to the Hope Florida Foundation.
Jurors rejected the argument that the $10 million represented an additional charitable contribution separate from money owed to taxpayers.
“We find that the full Centene settlement was taxpayer reimbursement,” the grand jury wrote, according to CBS News Miami. “We reject Agency for Healthcare Administration Secretary Jason Weida’s explanation that $10 million was a `bonus.'”
The report added, “This money was part of the damages Centene owed to Florida taxpayers.”
Hope Florida was launched in 2021 as an initiative spearheaded by Florida first lady Casey DeSantis. According to the Executive Office of the Governor, the program was designed to connect Floridians receiving assistance with private businesses, nonprofits, faith organizations and government services through workers known as Care Navigators. The administration promoted the program as a way to help residents move toward economic independence.
The controversy centers not simply on Hope Florida receiving the settlement money, but on how quickly that money left the foundation.
According to the grand jury findings reported by CBS News Miami, Centene wired the $10 million to the Hope Florida Foundation on October 4, 2024. Joshua Hay, who chaired the foundation at the time, testified that the organization’s previous largest donation had been $100,000.
The foundation later awarded two $5 million grants, one to Secure Florida’s Future and another to Save Our Society from Drugs.
According to the report, Secure Florida’s Future sent $3.75 million to Keep Florida Clean, a political committee connected to James Uthmeier, who was Ron DeSantis’ chief of staff at the time and is now Florida’s attorney general. Save Our Society from Drugs later transferred another $4.75 million to the same committee.
A forensic accountant who reviewed financial records for the grand jury determined that Keep Florida Clean received $8.5 million through the two organizations, according to CBS News Miami. The committee then transferred $7 million to the Republican Party of Florida and another $1.23 million to the Florida Freedom Fund, another political committee chaired by Uthmeier.
Keep Florida Clean was involved in efforts to defeat Amendment 3.
The ballot initiative would have allowed adults 21 and older to possess and use marijuana for nonmedical purposes under Florida law. According to certified election results reported by NPR, Amendment 3 received roughly 55.9 percent support, short of the 60 percent required to amend Florida’s constitution.
The grand jury focused heavily on Uthmeier’s position during the settlement process.
“We find that James Uthmeier, as the Governor’s Chief of Staff at the time of settlement, was in a position of authority over those involved in settling …,” jurors wrote, according to CBS News Miami. “Testimony identified him as having involvement in directing the money after it went to Hope Florida. Testimony also revealed that Mr. Uthmeier’s Keep Florida Clean, a political action committee, was the prime recipient of the majority of the $10 million taxpayer funds.”
Still, the grand jury said the evidence did not establish criminal responsibility for any individual.
“Despite our finding that the money was misappropriated, we find insufficient evidence to charge anyone criminally,” the report stated. “Nobody will take responsibility for deciding the $10 million of taxpayer money would go to Hope Florida… or had any memory of who made it.”
Jurors continued, “We recognize that this would be an impediment to criminal prosecution. While we can’t prove who is responsible, we can plainly see that taxpayer money was misused for political purposes and we would like to see changes made to prevent this from happening again.”
The report also examined the role of Ashley Moody, who was Florida attorney general when the settlement was finalized and is now a U.S. senator. According to CBS News Miami, the grand jury concluded Moody knew of the plan to direct $10 million to Hope Florida and authorized then Chief Deputy Attorney General John Guard to sign the final agreement.
Guard told CBS that requests for the Department of Legal Affairs to participate in settlements were not unusual and that the matter was handled in the department’s ordinary course of business. He declined additional comment because he is now a state appellate judge and cited laws governing the confidentiality of grand jury proceedings.
Questions surrounding Hope Florida were already under investigation well before the grand jury report surfaced.
In May 2025, the Associated Press reported that prosecutors in Leon County had opened an investigation after Florida Republican state Rep. Alex Andrade scrutinized the movement of the $10 million and referred information to law enforcement. Andrade’s legislative inquiry focused on whether public settlement money had improperly been routed through the foundation before reaching political groups.
A February 2026 report from WUSF and the Florida Center for Governmental Accountability confirmed that a grand jury had produced a presentment, a type of report that can address government misconduct or misuse of public money even when jurors do not return criminal charges. The document remained confidential while legal proceedings over its release continued.
Ron DeSantis has repeatedly rejected accusations of wrongdoing. Asked about the controversy on August 26, according to CBS News Miami, he said, “I wasn’t involved in the settlement agreement, but I’m very happy with how everything was done.”
He again described the controversy as a “hoax.”
Uthmeier has also denied wrongdoing. Speaking about Hope Florida earlier this year, according to CBS News Miami, he called the controversy a “big nothingburger.”
“I don’t think anybody cares about this topic any more than the liberal media,” Uthmeier said in April. “Again, there was a grand jury proceeding. Under Florida law the contents thereof are confidential. That’s not my choice. That is Florida law. What I can tell you is I have not been indicted. I’ve not been a suspect or a target. I have not been involved in any criminal activity. Nobody did anything wrong here.”
The grand jury reached a different conclusion about how the money itself was handled, even while declining to recommend criminal charges.
Jurors called on Florida lawmakers to require money received by the state to be deposited into the General Fund and urged lawmakers to establish stricter rules governing how private organizations use taxpayer funds.
“As taxpayer money,” the grand jury concluded, according to CBS News Miami, “it should have been treated as such instead of being allocated for partisan political purposes and without transparency.”
