TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The fallout from the Hope Florida grand jury investigation is moving onto Florida’s 2026 campaign trail after the panel concluded that $10 million in taxpayer money was misappropriated but found insufficient evidence to charge anyone criminally.
The Leon County grand jury concluded that money originating from a Medicaid settlement was improperly diverted to the Hope Florida Foundation before ultimately flowing through nonprofit organizations and into political committees that helped oppose Florida’s 2024 recreational marijuana amendment.
The grand jury described the transfer as part of a “sophisticated scheme to fund political activities” and concluded that taxpayer money had been misappropriated.
But the panel did not indict anyone.
“Despite our finding that the money was misappropriated, we find insufficient evidence to charge anyone criminally,” the grand jury concluded, according to a copy of the report obtained and published by CBS News Miami.
The report, completed in January and kept under seal for months, became public after being obtained by the news organization last week.
Its emergence less than three months before Florida’s Nov. 3 general election has transformed what had largely been a Tallahassee controversy into a potentially significant campaign issue.
Grand jury focuses on $10 million transfer
The dispute centers on a settlement involving health care company Centene and Florida’s Medicaid program.
According to the grand jury, $10 million from the settlement was directed to the Hope Florida Foundation, an organization associated with First Lady Casey DeSantis’ Hope Florida initiative.
The grand jury concluded that the money belonged to Florida taxpayers and should have been treated as public funds.
Centene transferred the $10 million to the foundation on Oct. 4, 2024, according to the report.
The foundation subsequently approved two $5 million grants. The money eventually reached political committees, including Keep Florida Clean, which was involved in the campaign against Amendment 3, the 2024 ballot initiative that sought to legalize recreational marijuana.
Amendment 3 received a majority of votes but failed to reach Florida’s 60% threshold required for constitutional amendments.
The grand jury said the timing of the settlement raised concerns, noting that the transfer occurred shortly before the election.
Within 25 days of Hope Florida receiving the money, the $10 million had left the foundation.
Uthmeier emerges as central figure
The report places particular attention on Attorney General James Uthmeier, who was Gov. Ron DeSantis’ chief of staff when the settlement occurred.
The grand jury said Uthmeier was “in a position of authority” over officials involved in the settlement and cited testimony indicating that he was involved in directing the money after it reached Hope Florida.
Two nonprofits that received the Hope Florida grants subsequently transferred $8.5 million to Keep Florida Clean, a political committee associated with Uthmeier, according to the grand jury report.
Uthmeier has rejected allegations of wrongdoing and characterized renewed scrutiny surrounding Hope Florida as politically motivated.
The grand jury did not charge Uthmeier with a crime.
But the report’s release creates a new political challenge for the Republican attorney general as he campaigns to retain the office in November.
Democratic attorney general nominee José Javier Rodríguez has seized on the findings, calling for accountability over the handling of the money.
That sets up a general-election contest in which Hope Florida could become one of the central arguments Democrats use against the incumbent attorney general.
Moody drawn into Senate campaign
U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody, who served as Florida attorney general when the Centene settlement was reached, is also facing renewed scrutiny.
The grand jury found that Moody knew of plans to direct $10 million from the settlement to Hope Florida and authorized then-Chief Deputy Attorney General John Guard to sign the agreement.
The report, however, does not establish that Moody knew the money would subsequently be transferred from Hope Florida to organizations engaged in political activity.
Moody has said her office was one of several state agencies involved in the settlement and that it had no knowledge of how the funds would later be spent by Hope Florida or other organizations.
She is now running in November against Democratic Senate nominee Angie Nixon, who scored an upset primary victory over Alex Vindman.
Democratic Senate nominee Angie Nixon has already moved to make the grand jury findings part of that campaign, criticizing Moody’s role and calling for her resignation.
The result is another statewide race in which the Hope Florida controversy could become an issue during the final months before Election Day.
Jolly vows new investigation
The controversy is now spilling into several of the major races on Florida’s 2026 general-election ballot.
Democratic gubernatorial nominee David Jolly has called for the Hope Florida investigation to be reopened and said he would pursue a new investigation if elected governor.
Jolly is challenging Republican nominee Byron Donalds in November as Florida’s governor race moves into the general election.
The grand jury report does not accuse Donalds of involvement in the Hope Florida transactions.
Instead, Democrats are attempting to use the controversy to raise broader questions about accountability under the Republican state government that Donalds is campaigning to succeed.
Jolly has also called on Donalds to support reopening the investigation.
Whether Hope Florida becomes a sustained issue in the governor’s race could depend in part on how Donalds responds as the general-election campaign intensifies.
DeSantis rejects grand jury’s conclusions
Gov. Ron DeSantis has strongly defended his administration and disputed the grand jury’s characterization of the settlement.
“There was no diversion of any Medicaid funds,” DeSantis said Thursday, maintaining that the settlement was legally sound and benefited the state.
DeSantis has repeatedly described the controversy surrounding Hope Florida as a “hoax.”
The governor also criticized the disclosure of the sealed grand jury report and suggested that the release itself could violate state law.
The grand jury reached a different conclusion regarding the underlying money.
Its report said the $10 million constituted taxpayer funds and should not have been allocated for partisan political purposes without transparency.
Despite those findings, the panel said it could not determine who specifically made the decision to send the money to Hope Florida — a central obstacle to bringing criminal charges.
Grand jury calls for legislative changes
Beyond its findings about the $10 million, the grand jury recommended that Florida lawmakers establish clearer rules governing how organizations such as the Hope Florida Foundation can receive and spend taxpayer money.
The panel called for stronger tracking requirements, greater oversight and consequences when public funds are improperly used.
Those recommendations could bring the controversy back before the Florida Legislature even after the November election.
For now, however, the most immediate consequences are political.
Uthmeier is defending his record in the attorney general race. Moody is campaigning for a full Senate term. Jolly is trying to make Hope Florida an issue against Republican control of state government.
And with Election Day approaching, a grand jury investigation that ended without criminal charges is emerging as a new point of contention in some of Florida’s biggest races.
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