![\"Attorney](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/MIA_DeSantis_Roundtable_MJO_8.JPG\" "\\"Attorney")
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Attorney General Ashley Moody speaks during a roundtable discussion at the American Museum of the Cuban Diaspora in Miami\u2019s Coral Way neighborhood on Monday, February 7, 2022.<\/p>\n
MATIAS J. OCNER<\/p>\n
mocner@miamiherald.com<\/p>\n
Reality Check<\/a> is a Herald series holding those in power to account and shining a light on their decisions. Have a suggestion for a future story? Email our journalists at tips@miamiherald.com.<\/a><\/p>\n The Hope Florida Foundation has moved its financial records and documents out of Tallahassee and into the same nondescript Alabama building as the super political action committee backing Florida Sen. Ashley Moody\u2019s re-election campaign, new tax filings show.<\/p>\n Crosby Ottenhoff Group helps a wide set of conservative political committees ensure they don\u2019t run afoul of state and federal campaign finance laws from a building in the wealthy Birmingham suburb of Mountain Brook.<\/p>\n But their Rolodex now also includes Florida\u2019s state-created charity. The Hope Florida Foundation previously housed its records in the state\u2019s Department of Children and Family Services headquarters, according to an older tax return.<\/p>\n The re-homing of the foundation backing first lady Casey DeSantis\u2019 flagship initiative to an out-of-state political hub follows political and criminal investigations into how the Hope Florida Foundation helped move $10 million in taxpayer funds from a Medicaid settlement to a political committee run by now-Attorney General James Uthmeier, which he used to help defeat Florida\u2019s marijuana ballot amendment in 2024.<\/p>\n The choice by the foundation to use a politically connected legal compliance company is the latest in the string of ways the ostensibly nonpartisan nonprofit has been tied to Republican political operators.<\/p>\n Another one of Florida\u2019s state-created charities, the Florida Emergency Management Assistance Foundation \u2014 a nonprofit organization that supports the state\u2019s emergency management agency \u2014 runs its finances in-house, tax filings show.<\/p>\n The main super PAC backing Moody, called Stronger Safer Nation, has paid Crosby Ottenhoff Group $38,000 for campaign finance consulting services.<\/p>\n That the Hope Florida Foundation\u2019s record-keeping is being held in the same building as the super PAC backing Moody\u2019s re-election campaign is notable, in part, because of her office\u2019s role in the drafting of the settlement agreement that started the chain of events resulting in millions of taxpayer dollars going to political ads<\/a>.<\/p>\n Eric Gorovitz, a nonprofit tax law attorney based in San Francisco, told the Herald\/Times that from a legal perspective, \u201cthere\u2019s nothing culpable in hiring a known accounting firm with appropriate expertise\u201d that also does political work, as long as the reporting is done accurately.<\/p>\n But it does raise important questions about the Hope Florida Foundation\u2019s oversight processes and open a door for potential misconduct, according to Nathan Goldman, an associate professor of accounting at North Carolina State University.<\/p>\n \u201cIs this creating opportunities for nefarious behavior? I think the answer is yes,\u201d Goldman said.<\/p>\n \u201cWhy did they change how this is being done? Was there a competitive selection process? Are there any conflicts of interest that were considered? And is the board documenting its decision?\u201d asked Goldman. \u201cThese aren\u2019t IRS violations, but there are certainly legitimate questions that need to be asked, not just by the organization, but by these policymakers and by the public as a whole.\u201d<\/p>\n The potential for the same staffers to be working on the books for both the Hope Florida Foundation and the PAC backing Moody \u201ccreates opportunities for people that are doing things that they\u2019re not supposed to be doing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Crosby Ottenhoff Group advertises itself as a one-stop shop \u201cfocused on building strategic, quality services for political committees.\u201d The company\u2019s clients include the two biggest political committees aimed at keeping Republican control of the House: the National Republican Campaign Committee and Congressional Leadership Fund.<\/p>\n The firm also runs the books for American Mission Florida \u2014 an AI industry-backed political committee that\u2019s been running ads in support<\/a> of Florida gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds.<\/p>\n The Crosby Ottenhoff Group website states that the company works with nonprofits as well as political committees, and handled the paperwork for a few dozen nonprofits nationwide in 2024, according to a search of tax filings compiled by the investigative journalism nonprofit ProPublica. Many of those nonprofits are tied to conservative political organizations.<\/p>\n But Crosby Ottenhoff Group only publicly operated the books for one other Florida nonprofit in 2024: the Miami-based group called America Issues Movement Inc., which was run by Republican political strategists and has since been administratively dissolved, according to state corporate records.<\/p>\n Crosby Ottenhoff Group is not a contractor state agencies work with, according to state financial records. The Crosby Ottenhoff Group did not respond to questions from the Herald\/Times about how the firm came to work with the Hope Florida Foundation.<\/p>\n Neither the Department of Children and Family Services nor the Hope Florida Foundation responded to questions from the Herald\/Times about why the state-created charity chose to outsource its financial compliance tasks, or how they selected Crosby Ottenhoff Group.<\/p>\n Renewed scrutiny on Moody\u2019s role<\/p>\n Moody has been facing increased pressure from her Democratic opponents over her office\u2019s role in negotiating the settlement as her November Senate election approaches. She was nominated to Florida\u2019s vacant U.S. Senate seat by Gov. Ron DeSantis after Marco Rubio was named Secretary of State.<\/p>\n \u201cAshley needs to stop keeping secrets from the people of our state. It\u2019s time she owns up and shows up,\u201d Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried said Wednesday during a press conference pressing Moody to address her office\u2019s role in routing Medicaid settlement dollars toward the Hope Florida Foundation.<\/p>\n The leading Democratic candidate against Moody, Alexander Vindman, also slammed Moody this week, saying that throughout the election cycle, \u201ccorruption will be an essential issue. I think this one\u2019s particularly heinous.\u201d<\/p>\n Records obtained by the Herald\/Times last year<\/a> showed that Centene, the healthcare contractor that paid out the settlement, insisted that Moody\u2019s office be cited in the agreement to help contextualize the unusual decision to reroute $10 million of the $67 million settlement to a charity.<\/p>\n John Guard, her chief deputy attorney general, removed references to her during the drafting process, those records showed, but Moody\u2019s name appears on the final agreement.<\/p>\n In a statement, Moody\u2019s communications director Cameron Gambini distanced the senator from the settlement: \u201cThis was an Agency for Health Care Administration agreement that AHCA chose to negotiate and settle through AHCA-lawyers and outside counsel almost two years ago,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n He added that she was not involved in the grand jury investigation into how the settlement money ended up paying for political ads. The grand jury has not yet released the findings of its investigation.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Senator has had no role in any grand jury proceedings and would certainly have no issue with the public release of any report,\u201d Gambini said.<\/p>\n Moody is not directly tied to Stronger Safer Nation, the super PAC housed in the same Alabama building as Hope Florida\u2019s records. In a federal race, candidates can not legally coordinate with the super PACs backing their campaigns.<\/p>\n But the PAC is ground zero for major donors and corporations who want to back Moody without hitting direct-campaign-contribution limits. Miami billionaire Ken Griffin gave $2.5 million to Stronger Safer Nation earlier this summer<\/a> to support her re-election bid.<\/p>\n New tax filings detail flow of funds<\/p>\n The Hope Florida Foundation\u2019s new tax filing also provides the clearest public documentation that the Hope Florida Foundation did little in 2024 besides wiring the Medicaid settlement funds to donors giving millions to Uthmeier\u2019s political committee.<\/p>\n The foundation \u2014 which described itself to the Internal Revenue Service as a charity created to \u201cfoster community collaboration between the public and private sector, faith-based communities, and nonprofits, to break down traditional community silos\u201d \u2014 only distributed a handful of grants that year.<\/p>\n Those included $100,000 to Florida Emergency Management Assistance Foundation, a state-created charity. Other grants included $87,000 to seven individuals related to Hurricane Milton recovery, and the $10 million split between Secure Florida\u2019s Future, a group run<\/a> by the Florida Chamber of Commerce, and Save Our Society From Drugs, a St. Petersburg organization associated with Drug Free America.<\/p>\n In the days following the transfer of the $10 million, those two groups wired $8.5 million into Uthmeier\u2019s political committee, funding ads in opposition to Florida\u2019s 2024 ballot amendment legalizing marijuana.<\/p>\n Save Our Society From Drugs and Drug Free America gave Keep Florida Clean a total of $9.6 million in 2024, according to the nonprofits\u2019 recent tax filings.<\/p>\n Uthmeier\u2019s committee spent $25 million during the election cycle, and the proposal he opposed to legalize marijuana in Florida failed to reach the necessary 60% threshold for passage.<\/p>\n The Hope Florida Foundation\u2019s tax filing could raise additional scrutiny from the Internal Revenue Service if the agency under the Donald Trump administration chose to pursue it.<\/p>\n Nonprofit experts told the Herald\/Times earlier this year that the foundation\u2019s actions could jeopardize its tax-exempt status because of the strict restrictions on how nonprofits can engage in politics or lobbying.<\/p>\n READ MORE: Criminal Hope Florida probe wrapped, but IRS inquiry could soon begin<\/a><\/p>\n In the tax filing, under a question about whether the nonprofit had been involved in any lobbying activities, the foundation wrote \u201cno.\u201d<\/p>\n It described all of its grants \u2014 including the $10 million that led to the grand jury investigation \u2014 as funds that \u201cwere provided after an assessment of the donee organizations\u2019 mission and programmatic activities.\u201d<\/p>\n According to records previously obtained by the Herald\/Times, the grant proposals Save Our Society From Drugs and Drug Free America submitted to the Hope Florida Foundation did not detail<\/a> how the groups planned to spend the money.<\/p>\n The Hope Florida Foundation\u2019s listed email address for submitting new grant proposals on its website was nonfunctional and emails automatically bounced back Wednesday.<\/p>\n Herald\/Times Tallahassee Bureau reporter Romy Ellenbogen contributed to this report.<\/p>\n This story was originally published July 31, 2026 at 5:30 AM.<\/p>\n![\"Former](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1000012977.jpeg\" "\\"1000012977.jpeg\\"")
Former Hope Florida Foundation President Joshua Hay, right, leaves the Leon County Courthouse on Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2025. Justin Garcia Tampa Bay Times <\/p>\n![\"From](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/MIA_105aRaulCIndictment20NEWPPP.JPG\" "\\"MIA_105aRaulCIndictment20NEWPPP.JPG\\"")
From left- Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and U.S. FBI Deputy Director Christopher G. Raia listened U.S. Senator Ashley Moody speaks during the announcement of a federal indictment against Ra\u00fal Castro for the shoot-down of two Brothers to the Rescue planes in 1996, during an event to honor the victims of that tragic event, celebrated at the iconic Freedom Tower, in Miami, on Wednesday, May 20, 2026. Pedro Portal pportal@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n![\"Florida](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/MIA_02UTHEMEIERINMIAMI.JPG\" "\\"MIA_02UTHEMEIERINMIAMI.JPG\\"")
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, center, speaks alongside federal and state law enforcement officials during a press conference at the FDLE Miami Regional Operations Center announcing a new unit focused on investigating public corruption and government spending.on Thursday, February 19, 2026, in Miami, Florida. Left to right are: U.S. Attorney for Southern District of Florida Jason A. Reding Quinones, Attorney General James Uthmeier, and Assistant Statewide Prosecutor Richard Mantei, Office of Statewide Prosecution. Carl Juste cjuste@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n