MIAMI — A grand jury in Leon County determined the DeSantis administration misappropriated taxpayer funds by redirecting $10 million from a Medicaid settlement into a state charity to fund political activities, but there wasn’t enough evidence to charge anyone criminally, according to the sealed report.

Miami Herald news partner CBS Miami dropped the bombshell Wednesday night, releasing a copy of the sealed grand jury report, which said money tied to a healthcare contractor’s overbilling of taxpayers instead lined the pockets of the Republican Party of Florida and two political action committees controlled by the governor’s chief of staff. In 2024, that money was used to defeat a campaign to legalize recreational marijuana in the state.

“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 grand jury said.

The ‘scheme’

The grand jury began its work in August of last year after months of media reports and an investigation by the Florida House into actions by top DeSantis aides in the fall of 2024 to fast-track a languishing $67 million legal settlement with healthcare contractor Centene, which had overbilled taxpayers for medications.

Government officials and lawyers changed the settlement that September to peel off $10 million and steer it away from state coffers and to the Hope Florida Foundation, a charity created by the DeSantis administration to support the first lady’s program to steer struggling Floridians away from government welfare.

The charity then quickly gave the money to two non-profits, which donated most of the money to a political committee controlled by James Uthmeier, the governor’s chief of staff. That money was then used to help defeat Amendment 3, which sought to legalize recreational marijuana in the state.

The report details a number of actions the grand jury found concerning, but describes the decision to parcel out $10 million in the settlement for the Hope Florida Foundation as “the original misappropriation.”

“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 grand jury wrote.

The grand jury’s purpose

“Our questions are: Why was the original settlement agreement changed in this way?” the report states. “Who made that change? And did the spending of the $10 million dollars constitute criminal or irregular conduct on the part of the public officials involved?”

‘Logic, or lack thereof’

Jurors considered a series of facts around the movement of money, including “the logic, or lack thereof” for the decision to steer millions to the Hope Florida Foundation.

“We were told Hope Florida was chosen as the beneficiary of the initial donation because the Centene settlement was compensation for ripping off sick poor children and Hope Florida’s mission and work aligned with the purpose of serving needy children with health issues,” the grand jury wrote.

But the report states that no one had “a clear understanding of what it did, where it existed, or how it operated.”

“So, we fail to see the nexus between Hope Florida and the Centene settlement, and even if there was a nexus, it was rendered moot by the fact that the money only stayed in Hope Florida’s account for a couple of days.”

The report also notes that negotiations to finalize the Centene settlement were “rushed,” and “materialized rapidly after years of inactivity.” Once it was executed, the DeSantis administration made no effort to “boast the recovery of millions in taxpayer funds” and kept the Legislature in the dark. The deal also included no guard rails for how the $10 million should be spent, allowing it to be handed directly to two organizations without any effort to seek competitive bids.

No responsibility

The grand jury wrote that it couldn’t bring charges because no witness would take responsibility for deciding the $10 million in taxpayer funds would go to Hope Florida, and nobody “had any memory” of who made the decision to do so.

“Virtually everyone involved is a lawyer and acted on the advice of other lawyers,” the report said. “We recognize that this would be an impediment to criminal prosecution.”

James Uthmeier

Uthmeier, whom DeSantis appointed as attorney general early last year, was in a position of authority over those involved in the settlement and had involvement in directing the money after it went to Hope Florida, the report said. Text messages show Uthmeier also encouraged one of the non-profits that received a $5 million grant from the Hope Florida Foundation to seek the money.

Uthmeier’s Keep Florida Clean political action committee was the prime recipient of the majority of the $10 million, the report said.

He was not interviewed by the grand jury.

Taxpayer funds

The grand jury determined the entire $67 million from the Centene settlement was taxpayer money, dismissing the argument from the DeSantis administration that the last $10 million was just a bonus and did not need to be returned to the state government.

Florida’s taxpayers were owed this $10 million as part of the damages, the report said.

Lacking due diligence

Jurors found government officials who signed off on the deal didn’t do their due diligence.

Then-Chief Deputy Attorney General John Guard and Florida Department of Health Chief of Staff Cassandra Pasley both signed the settlement agreement without working to ensure the proper appropriation of taxpayer money, the report said. Guard is now a judge with Florida’s Second District Court of Appeal, a position to which he was appointed by the governor.

The report also scrutinized the actions of Joshua Hay, the former chairman of the Hope Florida Foundation, who received a “unique donation” worth 100 times more than any his organization had previously received and quickly worked with the board to turn all of it over to the only two organizations that put their hands out, the report said.

Lacking credibility

While the grand jury found Hay’s testimony transparent and credible, the testimony of Jeff Aaron, the lawyer advising the Hope Florida Foundation’s board, was not, according to the report.

Hay told the grand jury that it was Aaron who told him Hope Florida would be receiving $10 million. But Aaron, who according to the report "has a personal and professional relationship” with Uthmeier and DeSantis, said he wasn’t aware of the Centene settlement when he reviewed the first $5 million grant application from Secure Florida’s Future, a social-welfare non-profit affiliated with the Florida Chamber of Commerce.

The report also questioned the forthcomingness of Deputy Chief of Staff to the Governor Katie Strickland. Strickland, who reported directly to Uthmeier, was “the least informative in her testimony,” and she could hardly recall anything regarding the settlement, the report said.

And it dismissed several of the explanations offerred by Jason Weida, who as the head of the Agency for Health Care Administration led the settlement negotiations in the fall of 2024. Weida is the current chief of staff to the governor.

‘Mischaracterized’

Jurors determined the groups that received the $5 million a piece from the Hope Florida Foundation — Secure Florida’s Future and Save Our Society from Drugs — misrepresented how they intended to use it in their grant applications.

The application submitted by Secure Florida’s Future represented that the organization would use the money to “raise awareness of Hope Florida’s efforts within the private sector utilizing a data-centric approach,” and “recruit businses community partners to advance this necessary cause.”

The application submitted by Save Our Society from Drugs represented that the money “would support causes advanced by the organization including ‘preventing drug use, increasing access to care, and promoting recovery for individuals and families throughout Florida.’”

From the expedited nature of these funds to their quick disbursement, the grand jury concluded the money was “misappropriated as part of a sophisticated scheme to fund political activities,” the report said.

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