A Florida grand jury found that the DeSantis administration misappropriated $10 million in taxpayer settlement money that was funneled through First Lady Casey DeSantis’ Hope Florida Foundation and ultimately used to help defeat a 2024 ballot measure to legalize recreational marijuana, according to a report leaked to CBS Miami after being sealed for seven months.
How the Money Moved
Centene Corporation, Florida’s largest Medicaid contractor, agreed in 2024 to pay the state $67 million after being accused of overbilling the Medicaid program for prescription drugs. Of that settlement, $57 million was returned to the state, while $10 million was instead directed to the Hope Florida Foundation, the nonprofit built around the governor’s signature anti-poverty initiative.
From there, the grand jury found, the foundation sent the money to two politically active nonprofits, Secure Florida’s Future and Save Our Society From Drugs, neither of which is required to disclose its donors. Those groups then wired a combined $8.5 million to Keep Florida Clean, a political action committee that spent the money on advertising to defeat Amendment 3, the 2024 ballot measure that would have legalized recreational marijuana in Florida.
Uthmeier’s Role
James Uthmeier chaired the Keep Florida Clean PAC while simultaneously serving as DeSantis’ chief of staff, the same role he held when the Centene settlement was finalized. He was later appointed Florida’s attorney general. The grand jury described Uthmeier as a “nexus” in the transaction, saying he helped direct the funds toward the PAC that he chaired and that ultimately received most of the money.
No Criminal Charges
Despite concluding that the funds were “misappropriated and misused for political purposes,” the grand jury said it found “insufficient evidence to charge anyone criminally,” reporting that no official would take responsibility for authorizing the transfer or claimed to remember who made the decision.
The Administration’s Response
DeSantis has called the report a “hoax” and a “political witch-hunt,” and has said Casey DeSantis “wasn’t involved in any of the settlement.” He previously defended the $10 million transfer as a “cherry on top” of the Centene settlement, framing it as within his executive authority to direct. Uthmeier has joined DeSantis in disputing the findings, and Republican state leaders have largely pushed back on the report, while Democrats have seized on it as evidence of misused public funds.
