A “sophisticated scheme” nobody committed.
A Florida grand jury traced $10 million of public settlement money into the campaign that defeated a citizens' ballot measure — and then couldn't find a single person who would admit to deciding to send it.
In a report dated January 28, 2026 — sealed, but obtained and published by CBS News Miami — a state grand jury concluded that $10 million from the state's Medicaid settlement with the contractor Centene was “misappropriated as part of a sophisticated scheme to fund political activities.” The money moved through the Hope Florida Foundation into two nonprofits and then into political committees, where it helped beat the 2024 measure to legalize marijuana. The jury also concluded it had “insufficient evidence to charge anyone criminally.” Public money was redirected to political ends, and the paper trail dead-ends in an empty chair.
What this page argues
The core facts are a government grand jury's own findings, not an advocate's. Of the state's 2024 Medicaid settlement with Centene, $10 million was routed not to the treasury but to the Hope Florida Foundation, a state-tied charity. Within days it was split into two $5 million grants to a pair of 501(c)(4) nonprofits — Secure Florida's Future and Save Our Society From Drugs — which passed roughly $8.5 million on to Keep Florida Clean, a political committee working to defeat Amendment 3, the 2024 marijuana-legalization measure; more went to the Republican Party of Florida.
The grand jury called this “a sophisticated scheme to fund political activities” and said the original misappropriation was the decision to send the money to Hope Florida at all — a decision no witness would take responsibility for or claim to remember making. It recommended a law requiring that money the state receives go into general revenue. And it declined to charge anyone, citing insufficient evidence. We grade the documented money trail and the jury's conclusions, and we are careful about the two things the record does not support.
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A 'sophisticated scheme' nobody committed.
A Florida grand jury traced $10M of public settlement money into the campaign that beat a citizens' ballot measure — then found no one who'd admit to deciding to send it.
The record, claim by claim
A state grand jury concluded $10 million was 'misappropriated as part of a sophisticated scheme to fund political activities.'
FACTThe grand jury's report — sealed, but obtained and published by CBS News Miami — uses that exact language: the funds 'were misappropriated as part of a sophisticated scheme to fund political activities.' In the same breath it found 'insufficient evidence to charge anyone criminally.' So the strongest sourced claim is precise and double-edged: a government fact-finding body concluded a scheme occurred, and also concluded it could not pin criminal responsibility on a person. We report both halves, because both are the record.
- Florida statewide grand jury report (dated Jan. 28, 2026), obtained and published by CBS News Miami; corroborated by The Guardian, WESH 2 Investigates, and ClickOrlando
The money's path is documented: Centene Medicaid settlement → Hope Florida → two nonprofits → political committees fighting the 2024 marijuana measure.
FACTOf the state's 2024 Medicaid settlement with Centene, $10 million went to the Hope Florida Foundation instead of the treasury. IRS Form 990 filings and the grand jury trace it from there: two $5 million grants to Secure Florida's Future and Save Our Society From Drugs, then roughly $8.5 million onward to Keep Florida Clean — a committee in the campaign against Amendment 3, the marijuana-legalization measure that failed — with additional money to the Republican Party of Florida. The transfers happened within days, which is part of why the jury saw a pass-through rather than a charitable purpose.
- Grand jury report and IRS Form 990 filings, as reported by WESH 2 Investigates, ClickOrlando, and CBS News Miami — the $5M-and-$5M grants and the ~$8.5M onward to Keep Florida Clean
The report places the sitting attorney general, James Uthmeier, in the money's path — and names his own PAC as the prime recipient.
PROBABLY TRUEThe grand jury found that James Uthmeier — DeSantis's chief of staff at the time of the settlement, and now the elected attorney general — was in a 'position of authority over those involved in settling with Centene,' and that testimony identified him as 'having involvement in directing the money after it went to Hope Florida.' It further noted that Uthmeier's political committee, Keep Florida Clean, was the 'prime recipient of the majority' of the $10 million. We grade this PROBABLY TRUE, not FACT: these are the grand jury's findings and witness testimony as stated in the report, not a proven charge — no one was indicted, and Uthmeier denies wrongdoing. The report says what it says; culpability was never adjudicated.
- Grand jury report language on Uthmeier's 'position of authority,' the testimony on directing the funds, and Keep Florida Clean as 'prime recipient' — via The Guardian and CBS News Miami
No one would take responsibility: the jury could not find a single witness who admitted or remembered deciding to send the $10 million to Hope Florida.
FACTThe report states plainly that 'nobody will take responsibility for deciding the $10 million of taxpayer money would go to Hope Florida' and that 'no witness would take responsibility for making the decision or had any memory of who made it.' That accountability vacuum is the heart of the story and the reason no charge followed: the jury could see the money move but could not attach the original decision to a name. 'While we can't prove who is responsible,' it wrote, 'we can plainly see that taxpayer money was misused for political purposes.'
- Grand jury report — the 'nobody will take responsibility' finding and the recommendation that the legislature require state receipts to go into general revenue
What the accused say, in their own words
- Gov. Ron DeSantis called the settlement “legally sound” and “appropriate,” said “there was no diversion of any Medicaid funds” because it was “a private settlement where a company made a private contribution,” and said the only apparent crime was “whoever leaked the grand jury report.” He also stressed that his wife “wasn't involved in any of this.”
- Attorney General James Uthmeier said Florida law barred him from commenting, that he “can't say if it's true or not,” but that if true it showed “no probable cause found that anybody did anything wrong.” He called the report a “hoax” and, without evidence, attributed it to Democrats.
- Former AG (now U.S. Sen.) Ashley Moody, through a spokesperson, said the reports “confirm what we have said all along” — that her office “had no knowledge of how the settlement money would be spent” — even as the jury faulted her chief deputy for signing the agreement “without conducting his due diligence.”
Where the evidence is strong, and where it stops
- “Scheme” is the jury's word; “crime” is not proven. A grand jury calling something a misappropriation is a serious primary finding — and it is also, explicitly, a decision not to charge. We lead with the finding and never upgrade it to a conviction that doesn't exist.
- The first lady is a footnote, not a defendant. The circulating framing that this was “her” charity's scheme outruns the record: the report mentions Casey DeSantis once, as Hope Florida's “champion,” and does not tie her to the transfers. We say so plainly rather than borrow the outrage.
- “Money for children” is a simplification. The $10 million was a Medicaid settlement — public money owed to the state — not a fund earmarked for uninsured kids. The wrong isn't “stealing from children”; it's diverting public money into a political campaign. The accurate version is damning enough.
When the vote says no, the money finds another way
This is the thesis of Looting the American Public in miniature: public money, quietly rerouted to private and political ends, and used here to help defeat a measure a majority of voters were being asked to decide. It is also a self-dealing story — the official the report places nearest the money now holds the state's top law-enforcement job, and the committee that got the most of it was his. And it belongs beside the other tier: a documented scheme that ends, like so many involving the powerful, with a finding of wrongdoing and a decision that no one can be charged.
Questions worth taking seriously
If a grand jury found a 'scheme,' why was no one charged?
Because the jury concluded it had insufficient evidence to pin the original decision on a person. It could trace the money and call the result a misappropriation, but no witness would admit to — or claim to remember — deciding to route the $10 million to Hope Florida in the first place. A grand jury can describe a scheme and still lack the proof to indict a specific individual. That gap is the story.
Isn't this just a partisan attack on DeSantis and his wife?
The source is a Florida statewide grand jury — a government body — not a campaign. We also refuse the partisan overreach: we correct the claim that Casey DeSantis ran the scheme (the report names her once, as the charity's champion), and we carry every official's denial in full. What's left after the exaggeration is stripped out is still a documented diversion of public money into a political campaign — found by jurors, not by us.
If you are named on this page
If you are named on this page, or are a party materially affected by the claims made here, and you wish to respond, correct the record, or add context, use the Contact page. Responses are published verbatim alongside the original claim, with the sender identified and the date of receipt. The channel stays open for the life of the page.
This site aggregates and grades a record that other outlets and primary sources have already put on the record. Every FACT-graded claim above is sourced to court filings, government reports, sworn whistleblower disclosures, published investigative journalism, or named-source statements. The citations are the accountability mechanism; this section is how you get on the record too.
The record
- Florida statewide grand jury report, dated January 28, 2026 (sealed) — obtained and published by CBS News Miami; the “sophisticated scheme,” “insufficient evidence to charge,” and “nobody will take responsibility” findings
- The Guardian (Aug. 27, 2026) — the report's findings, the named officials, and their responses, including DeSantis, Uthmeier, and Moody
- WESH 2 Investigates and ClickOrlando — the IRS Form 990 trail: two $5 million grants to Secure Florida's Future and Save Our Society From Drugs, and roughly $8.5 million onward to Keep Florida Clean
- Looting the American Public — the pattern this fits: public money rerouted when the vote says no