Grand jury finds DeSantis administration misappropriated $10 million in Medicaid settlement funds

A Florida grand jury concluded that Gov. Ron DeSantis's administration funneled $10 million from a Medicaid settlement meant for children's health care into political action committees, but found no one willing to take responsibility for the decision.

The sealed grand jury report, obtained and published by CBS News Miami, lays out what it calls "a sophisticated scheme to fund political activities", one that routed money from a $67 million settlement with Centene, Florida's largest Medicaid contractor, through a charity connected to First Lady Casey DeSantis's Hope Florida program and into organizations that campaigned against a 2024 ballot measure to legalize recreational marijuana in the state.

No criminal charges followed. The grand jury stated plainly that it lacked the evidence to hold any individual accountable, in large part because no witness would own the decision. But the report's language left little ambiguity about the panel's view of what happened to the money.

$10 million designated for children's health care landed in political PACs

The money trail, as The Hill reported, starts with the Centene settlement. The state reached a $67 million agreement with the Medicaid contractor. From that total, $10 million was designated as a "donation" to Hope Florida, which the grand jury described as intended to be "a community-based welfare program that serves as a cost-efficient alternative to government assistance programs."

That is not where the money ended up. The grand jury found the $10 million was funneled through a charity connected to Hope Florida, then sent to two unnamed nonprofit groups. Those nonprofits, in turn, helped fund the campaign against Florida's 2024 recreational marijuana ballot measure, Amendment 3, as the Washington Examiner identified it.

The grand jury report singled out Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, who previously served as DeSantis's chief of staff. The panel found Uthmeier was "in a position of authority over those involved in settling" and that testimony placed him at the center of directing the money after it reached Hope Florida.

His political action committee, Keep Florida Clean, was identified as "the prime recipient of the majority of the $10 million taxpayer funds." The report did not specify the exact dollar amount that reached the PAC.

Leon County grand jury: 'Nobody will take responsibility'

The grand jury's frustration ran through the report. One passage captured the accountability gap at the heart of the case. The grand jury stated:

"Nobody will take responsibility for deciding the $10 million of taxpayer money would go to Hope Florida... or had any memory of who made it."

That gap between the finding and the consequence is the central problem. The panel concluded that the funds were misappropriated. It said so directly. But it also acknowledged it could not prove who authorized the diversion, because no one would say.

The grand jury wrote:

"Despite our finding that the money was misappropriated, we find insufficient evidence to charge anyone criminally."

A second passage from the report, cited by the Associated Press, added: "While we can't prove who is responsible, we can plainly see that taxpayer money was misused for political purposes and we would like to see changes made to prevent this from happening again."

That framing, confirmed misuse, zero accountability, is the kind of outcome that erodes public trust regardless of party. Taxpayers paid into a Medicaid system. A settlement recovered money on their behalf. And that money ended up in political committees instead of the children's health programs it was meant to support.

Moody implicated but never called to testify

The report also drew a line to Sen. Ashley Moody, who served as Florida's attorney general at the time of the settlement. The Leon County grand jury found Moody was aware of the plan to divert the payment and had authorized her former chief deputy, John Guard, to sign the settlement agreement with Centene.

Moody was not called to testify before the grand jury. The report does not explain why. She has not publicly responded to the findings, at least not in any statement included in the available reporting.

DeSantis appointed Moody to fill Marco Rubio's U.S. Senate seat after Rubio became Secretary of State. She faces reelection in 2026, a race that now carries the weight of a grand jury report linking her to a scheme involving misappropriated public funds, even if no charges followed. Florida has seen its share of political figures face legal scrutiny in recent years, as the case of former gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum demonstrated.

The political fallout has already begun. The Florida Senate Democratic Caucus called for the resignations of both Uthmeier and Moody. But the criticism is not limited to Democrats. Just The News reported that Republican Rep. Alex Andrade publicly stated Uthmeier "stole $10,000,000 in Medicaid funds in 2024", a blunt accusation from within DeSantis's own party.

DeSantis calls probes 'manufactured' and defends his wife

Gov. DeSantis has pushed back on the investigations. In 2025, as other probes into the Hope Florida scheme were underway, he told reporters:

"It was all political. People smear what they fear. If Hope Florida represents a threat to their world view, they're going to go after it."

He characterized those earlier probes as a "manufactured" smear campaign. He did not respond to The Hill's request for comment on the grand jury report itself.

DeSantis also defended First Lady Casey DeSantis, stating that she had no involvement in the alleged scheme. "None of these guys did anything wrong but she wasn't involved in any of this," he said, as reported by Just The News.

Hope Florida launched in 2021 as a program associated with the First Lady. Newsmax reported that the grand jury's findings directly implicate the governor's inner circle, his former chief of staff, his hand-picked attorney general successor, and an organization bearing his wife's public brand.

Settlement money described as 'compensation for ripping off sick poor children'

The origin of the funds makes the diversion harder to defend on any terms. The $67 million Centene settlement arose from the company's role as Florida's largest Medicaid contractor. The $10 million carved out for Hope Florida was, by design, supposed to reach programs serving low-income families and children.

The Florida Senate Democratic Caucus put it in sharper terms, calling the settlement money "compensation for ripping off sick poor children" and arguing it was "knowingly and willingly misappropriated."

Whether that characterization is fair or overheated, the grand jury's own language supports the core claim: the money was misappropriated, it ended up in political committees, and no one in the DeSantis administration will say who sent it there.

Several questions remain unanswered. The names of the two nonprofit groups that received the funds have not been disclosed. The exact dollar amount that reached Uthmeier's Keep Florida Clean PAC is not specified. The name of the charity "connected to Hope Florida" used to move the money has not been publicly identified. And it remains unclear whether the sealed grand jury report was formally released or only obtained through a leak, a point Uthmeier and the DeSantis administration have seized on to challenge the report's public airing.

Ten million dollars left a Medicaid settlement meant for children and landed in political action committees. A grand jury called it misappropriation. And every official in the chain says someone else made the call. That is not how clean government works.