Uthmeier sticks by his guns: Hope Florida transfers were ‘entirely legal, absolutely’

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier again defended as 'entirely legal, absolutely' the routing of $10 million in Medicaid settlement funds through the Hope Florida Foundation, money a state grand jury concluded was 'misappropriated' through 'a sophisticated scheme to fund political activities.' The funds came from a $67 million Medicaid overbilling settlement with Centene and ultimately helped finance opposition to a 2024 marijuana legalization ballot initiative.

Uthmeier, who was DeSantis' chief of staff when the transfer occurred and was later elevated to attorney general, compared the arrangement to Triumph Florida, a nonprofit created by the Legislature to administer BP oil spill settlement funds with built-in oversight from elected officials. His Democratic opponent in the AG race countered that invoking the president's name doesn't make the transfer legal and asked why the $10 million hasn't been returned.

The grand jury issued no indictments, citing insufficient evidence after no one involved would take responsibility, though it documented objections raised inside then-Attorney General Ashley Moody's office over the deal's structure before it was revised to route through a state agency instead.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.