{"id":382004,"date":"2026-08-26T22:26:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T22:26:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/382004\/"},"modified":"2026-08-26T22:26:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T22:26:15","slug":"report-taxpayer-dollars-misappropriated-to-hope-florida-grand-jury-finds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/382004\/","title":{"rendered":"REPORT: Taxpayer dollars \u2018misappropriated\u2019 to Hope Florida, grand jury finds"},"content":{"rendered":"

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. \u2013 A state grand jury found the Ron DeSantis\u2019 administration \u201cmisappropriated\u201d taxpayer funds when it diverted $10 million to the Hope Florida Foundation, according to an exclusive report from CBS News<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The money came from a settlement of over $67 million with Centene, a health care company accused of overbilling Florida\u2019s children\u2019s health insurance program. <\/p>\n

Instead of returning the full amount to the state, officials changed the deal in September 2024. The final agreement sent $57 million to the state and $10 million to Hope Florida<\/a> \u2014 a state initiative led by Florida First Lady Casey DeSantis that aims to connect people in need with resources like charities, according to a copy of the sealed grand jury report obtained by CBS Miami<\/a>.<\/p>\n

After the Centene Corporation acknowledged it overbilled Florida for Medicaid services, it reached a $67 million settlement with the state. Of that $57 million was refunded to the state, with $10 million being donated to the Hope Florida Foundation. (WKMG-TV 2026)<\/p>\n

However, the grand jury said the money was later moved through several organizations and ended up with two political action committees and the Republican Party of Florida. <\/p>\n

The funds were used to oppose Amendment 3<\/a>, a 2024 ballot measure that would have legalized recreational marijuana. The measure ultimately failed to garner enough approval from voters that year.<\/p>\n

Hope Florida Foundation leaders were found to have given $5 million each to a pair of organizations: “Secure Florida’s Future” and “Save Our Society From Drugs.” Those two groups then sent roughly that same amount of money to a political action committee called “Keep Florida Clean,” which fought against Amendment 3. (WKMG-TV 2026)<\/p>\n

The report identified Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier as a \u201cnexus\u201d figure; he was Gov. Ron DeSantis\u2019 chief of staff when the settlement was made. The grand jury said Uthmeier helped direct the money and that his political committee received most of it.<\/p>\n

The report also said then-Attorney General Ashley Moody \u2014 who was called upon by political competitor Alex Vindman earlier this year<\/a> to release the grand jury report \u2014 also knew about the plan and authorized her chief deputy, John Guard, to sign the settlement. <\/p>\n

Moody is now a U.S. senator. Meanwhile, Guard \u2014 now a state appeals court judge \u2014 said the settlement was handled normally and declined further comment. However, the report states that Guard admitted to having \u201creservations\u201d about the deal and that he\u2019d \u201cesoterically\u201d agreed the $10 million was taxpayer money.<\/p>\n

The grand jury said there was not enough evidence to charge anyone criminally, partly because no one accepted responsibility for the decision. DeSantis has continued to call the controversy a \u201choax\u201d and said he was not involved in the settlement. <\/p>\n

Uthmeier and Moody have similarly denied wrongdoing. None of the three testified before the grand jury.<\/p>\n

News 6 reached out to the governor\u2019s office after the news broke and received the following statement:<\/p>\n

\u201cThis baseless smear has been debunked over and over again. <\/p>\n

In fact, if any confidential grand jury report was leaked to the press, that\u2019s the only crime committed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Press Secretary Molly Best, Executive Office of the Governor<\/p>\n

News 6 has also reached out to Sen. Moody\u2019s office for comment on the grand jury report, and is awaiting response.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TALLAHASSEE, Fla. \u2013 A state grand jury found the Ron DeSantis\u2019 administration \u201cmisappropriated\u201d taxpayer funds when it diverted…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":382005,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1107,28,30,29,1384,4260,2159,412,232],"class_list":["post-382004","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-courts","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-hope-florida","tag-james-uthmeier","tag-money","tag-ron-desantis","tag-tallahassee"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382004","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=382004"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382004\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/382005"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=382004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=382004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=382004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}