A Florida grand jury determined that the state government acted inappropriately when it directed millions from a Medicaid settlement to first lady Casey DeSantis’s Hope Florida Foundation, and concluded the funding was further misappropriated to fund political activities.
There is insufficient evidence to press criminal charges over the first lady’s charity scandal, according to a copy of the January 2026 grand jury report from Leon County leaked to the press on Wednesday.
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The grand jury deliberated over $10 million in funding that the first lady’s charity group for welfare recipients, the Hope Florida Foundation, received in disbursements from a Medicaid settlement. It questioned why settlement funds were distributed to the Hope Florida Foundation in the first place and determined that the funds were further misappropriated by funding the political effort to defeat Florida’s marijuana legalization amendment. Questions have been brewing about the matter since early last year.
“We conclude that these funds were misappropriated as part of a sophisticated scheme to fund political activities,” the report read.
The grand jury said it remains unclear who exactly was responsible for making the decision to misappropriate the funds, making it impossible to press criminal charges. Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier and former Attorney General Ashley Moody were among those the report implicated in diverting the funds from helping residents get off welfare to the state Republican Party and two Political Action Committees invested in defeating Amendment 3, the initiative to legalize marijuana. One of the PACs was chaired by Uthmeier, who was Gov. Ron DeSantis’s general counsel at the time.
“Despite our finding that the money was misappropriated, we find insufficient evidence to charge anyone criminally,” the report concluded. “Nobody will take responsibility for deciding the $10 million of taxpayer money would go to Hope Florida. This decision was the original misappropriation, and no witness would take responsibility for making the decision or had any memory of who made it.”
“Virtually everyone involved is a lawyer and acted on the advice of other lawyers,” the grand jury report continued. “We recognize that this would be an impediment to criminal prosecution. 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.”
Uthemeier’s office directed the Washington Examiner to remarks he made at a press conference Thursday when pressed for comment. The attorney general said the report shows “that there was no probable cause found that anybody did anything wrong.” He also said the leaking of the grand jury report was illegal, blaming its release on Democrats, who he said “colluded with the press to break the law” and carry out a “politically motivated witch hunt.”
DeSantis and his wife have said they are not guilty of any wrongdoing in the debacle. The governor’s office told the Washington Examiner that “this baseless smear has been debunked over and over again.”
“In fact, if any confidential grand jury report was leaked to the press, that’s the only crime committed,” DeSantis’s communications director, Alex Lanfranconi, said in a statement.
The DeSantis administration has argued that the $10 million was not meant as taxpayer reimbursement, but was instead distributed to the foundation in the Medicaid Centene settlement as a “cherry on top,” or a “sweetener” for the deal.
The jury report rejected that characterization, writing that Centene’s original settlement offer stated that the additional $10 million of the settlement was to reimburse for any other potentially alleged damages.
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Casey DeSantis’s Hope Florida is an organization that helps residents get off welfare by connecting them with nonprofit groups and faith-based services. It operates as an official function of the governor’s office, and its services are implemented through state agencies, including Florida’s Departments of Education and Children and Families.
Hope Florida Foundation is connected to Hope Florida, but serves as an outside nonprofit organization. The foundation raises private donations to support Hope Florida’s work, disbursing them to charities, churches, and other entities that aid struggling residents.
