A Florida state grand jury determined that the administration of Governor Ron DeSantis "misappropriated" $10 million in public funds by diverting it from a Medicaid agreement to the Hope Florida Foundation and then to political action committees and the Florida Republican Party, according to a report obtained by CBS News Miami.
The money came from a $67 million agreement signed in September 2024 between the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration and Centene Corp., the state's largest Medicaid contractor, regarding alleged markups on pharmacy benefits.
Those funds were intended to provide health insurance to children from low-income families, but $10 million were funneled to the Hope Florida Foundation—the charitable initiative led by First Lady Casey DeSantis—and then hastily distributed among multiple organizations.
From Hope, Florida, five million went to Secure Florida's Future and another five million to Save Our Society From Drugs; both organizations later transferred $8.5 million to the political action committee Keep Florida Clean, chaired by James Uthmeier, who was then the chief of staff to the governor.
Keep Florida Clean distributed $7 million to the Republican Party of Florida and $1.23 million to the Florida Freedom Fund, another committee also led by Uthmeier.
These resources were used in 2024 to defeat Amendment 3, the citizen initiative to legalize recreational marijuana in Florida, which received 56% of the votes but did not achieve the 60% required to amend the state constitution.
The grand jury identified Uthmeier -currently the Attorney General of Florida and a candidate in the November 2026 elections as the central figure of the scheme.
"We concluded that James Uthmeier, as the Chief of Staff for the governor at the time of the agreement, was in a position of authority over those involved in the settlement. Testimonies linked him to the management of the funds following their arrival in Hope, Florida. The testimonies also revealed that Uthmeier's Keep Florida Clean committee was the primary recipient of the majority of the $10 million in public funds," the report states.
The grand jury also concluded that the then Attorney General Ashley Moody -appointed by DeSantis in January 2025 to replace Marco Rubio and Republican candidate in the special elections on November 3- authorized her deputy John Guard to sign the agreement without due diligence.
Despite the seriousness of the findings, the grand jury declared that there was "insufficient evidence to criminally charge anyone," as no witness took responsibility for the decision to send the money to Hope Florida.
"Although we cannot prove who is responsible, we can clearly see that taxpayers' money was misused for political purposes, and we would like to see changes to prevent this from happening again," the report concludes.
The document was submitted under seal to the Office of the Secretary of Leon County on January 28, 2026, and remained concealed for seven months, while individuals named in it - including Uthmeier - obstructed its release through sealed court proceedings.
The grand jury also noted that officials from the administration took advantage of the chaos generated by hurricanes Helene and Milton to obscure activities related to the transfer of funds.
DeSantis, Moody, and Uthmeier were not called to testify. On Wednesday, during a press conference, DeSantis stated, "I was not involved in the settlement agreement, but I am very satisfied with how everything was handled," and went on to describe the matter as "fraud."
Uthmeier, for his part, had dismissed the case in April as a "minor matter" and claimed that he had not committed any crime.
The Democratic Senate candidate Angie Nixon described the case as "deep and repugnant corruption" and called for Moody's resignation, while the leader of the state Senate Democratic Caucus, Tracie Davis, announced legislation to close the legal loopholes that allowed the scheme.
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