{"id":383579,"date":"2026-08-28T14:08:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T14:08:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/383579\/"},"modified":"2026-08-28T14:08:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T14:08:12","slug":"florida-dems-pounce-on-grand-jury-finding-that-desantis-admin-misappropriated-medicaid-funds-to-fight-marijuana-legalization","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/383579\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida Dems Pounce On Grand Jury Finding That DeSantis Admin ‘Misappropriated’ Medicaid Funds To Fight Marijuana Legalization"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe scheme defunded healthcare services for poor children to instead advance the political agenda of Gov. Ron DeSantis.\u201d<\/p>\n

By Christine Sexton, Florida Phoenix<\/p>\n

Florida Democrats went on the offensive Thursday against Republican leaders after the release of a blistering statewide grand jury report that found $10 million in Medicaid funds were \u201cmisappropriated\u201d and wound up being used for \u201cpolitical activities.\u201d<\/p>\n

That report\u2014obtained by CBS Miami and posted on its website\u2014did not result in anyone getting charged but blasted several top state officials, including Attorney General James Uthmeier (R) and Jason Weida, now chief of staff to Gov. Ron DeSantis (R).<\/p>\n

The report also says U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody (R-FL), the former state attorney general, knew about the $10 million transfer of Medicaid funds from a $67 million drug overpricing settlement to the Hope Florida Foundation.<\/p>\n

The foundation \u201cquickly funneled\u201d the money to two non-profit groups that wound up directing some of the money to a campaign against an effort to legalize recreational marijuana.<\/p>\n

The probe originated after the Republican-controlled House held hearings in the spring of 2025 amid speculation that First Lady Casey DeSantis\u2014who started the Hope Florida initiative\u2014might run for governor. Rep. Alex Andrade, a Pensacola Republican, turned over information to the Tallahassee prosecutor that became the catalyst for the grand jury investigation.<\/p>\n

Andrade told the Florida Phoenix Thursday it would be \u201cinappropriate\u201d to discuss the grand jury report.<\/p>\n

Democrats say the 19-page grand jury report shows that top Republicans knowingly flouted Florida law by diverting the money paid by Centene Corp., a managed care company, from state coffers to political action committees Uthmeier controlled.<\/p>\n

Democrats want voters to keep that in mind when they head to the polls in November.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is blatant corruption,\u201d Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried told reporters Thursday during a media availability. Joining her were Democratic U.S. senatorial candidate Angie Nixon and Jose Javier Rodriquez, the Democrat running for attorney general.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd for 30 years, Republicans have controlled this state, and somewhere along the way, they started acting like taxpayer money was theirs to spend, state government was theirs to exploit, and nobody had the right to question them,\u201d Fried said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAuthoritarianism can look like leaders abusing government power, evading accountability, and treating public institutions like their own,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s exactly the warning signs we are seeing here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Uthmeier and his former boss, DeSantis, meanwhile, played down the findings as they focused their remarks on the release of the report, which has been sealed for months, to a South Florida CBS News affiliate. (Uthmeier had been DeSantis\u2019s chief of staff and ran the anti-amendment campaign.)<\/p>\n

The station reported the grand jury\u2019s findings and made the document available for the public to read.<\/p>\n

Appearing in Lake City, the governor said the only apparent crime was committed by \u201cwhoever leaked the grand jury report,\u201d and warned there would be \u201cconsequences for that in a variety of ways.\u201d He insisted the entire investigation was designed to \u201csmear\u201d his wife.<\/p>\n

DeSantis said he\u2019d \u201creviewed\u201d the $10 million transfer amid the controversy and that \u201cit was legally sound. It was appropriate and it was consistent with the state\u2019s mission. And that was true then and it\u2019s true now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Appearing during his own press conference in The Villages, Uthmeier called the investigation a \u201cpolitically motivated witch hunt driven by Democrats and a far-left Democrat state attorney in Tallahassee.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHere\u2019s what I\u2019ll say: Nobody did anything wrong here. There was not even probable cause to move forward. This is a hoax, and all it did was show that the Democrats can\u2019t win on policy, they can\u2019t win on the law.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Democrats, noting the Republican-controlled House of Representatives had launched the original legislative investigation into Hope Florida, insist this is a not partisan issue.<\/p>\n

They insist all voters will care about the grand jury\u2019s 16 findings and that the allegedly illegal transfer of $10 million during the 2024 election cycle to help defeat a recreational marijuana constitutional amendment will play a role in the 2026 election cycle.<\/p>\n

\u2018My opponent is a criminal\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been traveling the state talking about how we\u2019re going to return the Attorney General\u2019s office to the people, refocus on priorities that are going to make people\u2019s lives better, tackling crime, costs, and corruption,\u201d Rodriguez said during the Democratic availability. \u201cMy opponent is a criminal. He\u2019s a criminal who should resign. He should come clean and turn himself in.\u201d<\/p>\n

A former Democratic state senator and attorney, Rodriguez said the grand jury found the money was misappropriated but had insufficient evidence to charge anyone criminally.<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody will take responsibility for deciding the $10 million of taxpayer money would go to Hope Florida,\u201d the grand jury report<\/a> reads. \u201cThis decision was the original misappropriation, and no witness would take responsibility for making the decision or had any memory of who made it.\u201d<\/p>\n

And because \u201cvirtually everyone involved is a lawyer and acted on the advice of other lawyers,\u201d the grand jury concluded that fact would pose an \u201cimpediment to criminal prosecution.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rodriguez, however, put the blame directly on Uthmeier.<\/p>\n

\u201cJames Uthmeier was the person with authority here. It was his [political] committee. He directed the money. He directed those involved. And you know, Floridians need leaders who are going to clean house in Tallahassee. To clean house means to break down that wall of silence, the conspiratorial corruption that we have in Tallahassee, that this grand jury report lays out,\u201d Rodriquez said.<\/p>\n

Nixon called the diversion the\u201d ultimate betrayal of working families.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThink about this: Ashley Moody stole $10 million from children in Florida. Everyone involved in this, Ashley Moody included, should resign. They should resign. Enough is enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nixon said she was going to file complaints against Uthmeier, Moody and Weida with the Florida Bar. She encouraged Florida voters to do the same.<\/p>\n

Moody on her X page issued a \u201cclarifying\u201d statement.<\/p>\n

There have been numerous reports that misrepresent the facts surrounding an AHCA settlement agreement that has been available to the public for two years. Understanding this is political season and there may be a tendency to misrepresent the facts, it is important to clarify\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2014 Ashley Moody (@AshleyMoodyFL) August 27, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

Democratic gubernatorial hopeful David Jolly, meanwhile, released a statement saying the investigation into the transfer must be reopened.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe scheme defunded healthcare services for poor children to instead advance the political agenda of Gov. Ron DeSantis,\u201d the Jolly camp said in a prepared release. \u201cWith key leaders in the scheme refusing to answer questions, and no one held accountable, the investigation must be reopened.\u201d<\/p>\n

This story was first published by Florida Phoenix.<\/a><\/p>\n

Photo courtesy of Philip Steffan<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Marijuana Moment is made possible with support from readers. If you rely on our cannabis advocacy journalism to stay informed, please consider a monthly Patreon pledge.<\/p>\n

\"Become<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThe scheme defunded healthcare services for poor children to instead advance the political agenda of Gov. Ron DeSantis.\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":383580,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[589,28,30,29],"class_list":["post-383579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-featured","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383579","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=383579"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383579\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/383580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=383579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=383579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=383579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}