TALLAHASSEE — The $10 million that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ administration steered to a state-created charity last year consisted of Medicaid dollars owed to state and federal taxpayers, an investigative report by the Miami Herald has shown. If there are consequences for the actions, it does not appear that they will come from the state legislature, which dropped its probe on Thursday when two key figures refused to testify.
The state had reached a settlement with Centene after the managed care organization, which is the largest Medicaid contractor in Florida, overbilled taxpayers $67,048,611 for medications, according to a copy of a draft agreement obtained by the publication. The settlement, which was reached last year, was for the same amount.
The draft document contradicts statements by the DeSantis administration and other officials who claimed that the $10 million was a charitable contribution by Centene, separate from what its settlement with the state entailed. DeSantis said earlier this month that the $10 million was "in addition to" what the state was already receiving. "This is kind of like a cherry on top, where they agreed to make an additional contribution," said the governor.
Instead of returning the $67 million from the settlement to state and federal coffers, however, the administration diverted $10 million of it to the Hope Florida Foundation, a charity overseen by First Lady Casey DeSantis.
The funds were initially sent to two nonprofit organizations that do not have reporting requirements for how they spend their funding: $5 million to a nonprofit overseen by Florida Chamber of Commerce CEO Mark Wilson, and $5 million to the St. Petersburg-based Save Our Society from Drugs.
Those dark money groups then moved $8.5 million to a political committee overseen by Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, who was DeSantis’ chief of staff at the time. Both Wilson and Uthmeier were no-shows for a House Health Care Budget Subcommittee panel that ended quickly on Thursday. Rep. Alex Andrade, the Pensacola Republican who launched the probe, indicated that the legislature would drop the matter.
"While I’m firmly convinced that James Uthmeier and Jeff Aaron engaged in a conspiracy to commit money laundering and wire fraud, and that several parties played a role in the misuse of $10 million in Medicaid funds, we as legislators will not be the ones making the ultimate charging decisions," Andrade told lawmakers at Thursday's meeting.
6 comments on this item
Only paid subscribers can comment
Please log in to comment by clicking here.
kat.houston
Oh dear Lord, what would Jesus do? Not what these supposedly Christian folks have done. More politicians stealing from the needy. Sad.
Friday, April 25 Report this
Cat L
Gross. The "party of law" my a**.
Friday, April 25 Report this
RRICH69176
Are they the Teflon couple???...first concealing travel money used for a failed presidential bid now another misuse of taxpayer money.....and voter "luv" the man-huh? I guess this is the UNWOKE way!
Friday, April 25 Report this
rjckeuka4
And $50M taxpayer dollars to fight the abortion and marijuana amendments!!!!!!!!!!! What an upstanding, honest Christian!!??
Friday, April 25 Report this
Lktinsanfran
I am screaming at the top of my lungs, "Are there any honest politicians in Florida?" The corruption is overwhelming. You know if a democrat did the same thing "DoucheSantis" would be all over them. Frigin' hypocrites and thieves. Thank God this is his last term.
Saturday, April 26 Report this
David Daniels
I agree 100% with the comment by Lktinsanfran. There are none, zero, zilch honest and so-called public "representatives" in Manatee County and at the State level. Shame on us if we vote in another DeSantis. Same for voting in two Siddiques. A spouse riding coat tails shows a lust for power. We have State Senator Jim Boyd (an insurance salesman who has done nothing about property insurance rates) who tried to slip in $4 million of state tax dollars for Sarasota's cigar smoking crime boss Jon Mast. Boyd doesn't represent one inch of Sarasota, so why is he taklng phone calls and funneling state funds to Mast? We have our own Manatee County BoCC who are covering up Charlie Bishop's role in the "fraud and deceit" that resulted in the assnine and costly decision to eliminate wetland buffers. We have Gene Brown and Josh Cramer covering up the misconduct of Police Chief Beven, not to mention their pro development policies while letting millions of gallons of raw sewage flow into the Manatee River. I can remember when there were good, honest people with courage and integrity, especially at the local level. Developer money and fear of being primaried by developer money has corrupted public service at every level. The only local official with integrity and who is not afraid to stand up for accountability seems to be Sarasota's Tom Knight.
Saturday, April 26 Report this