Prosecutors convening grand jury in Hope Florida investigation

Prosecutors in Tallahassee are convening a grand jury relating to the Hope Florida Foundation, reinvigorating a scandal that has engulfed the charity spearheaded by Casey DeSantis, the governor’s wife.

In recent weeks, the State Attorney’s Office in Tallahassee has subpoenaed witnesses to testify before a grand jury during the week of Oct. 13, according to two sources familiar with the matter who spoke with the Herald/Times.

Who those witnesses are — and who is being investigated — have not been disclosed. State Attorney Jack Campbell declined to comment.

But the move marks a major development that could lead to criminal charges, escalating the stakes in a controversy that has undermined Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration and placed the first lady’s political future in doubt.

Campbell’s office confirmed back in May that a criminal investigation was underway relating to information given about the Hope Florida Foundation, the charity created to support Casey DeSantis’ signature initiative to move people off of welfare.

The investigation began after revelations, first reported by the Herald/Times, that the DeSantis administration directed $10 million from a legal settlement with the Medicaid contractor Centene through the foundation for political purposes.

Nearly all of the money ended up in a political committee controlled by DeSantis’ chief of staff, James Uthmeier. The committee’s purpose was to defeat last year’s recreational marijuana amendment. DeSantis later named Uthmeier as Florida’s attorney general.

The money became the focus of a House probe this spring led by Rep. Alex Andrade, a Pensacola Republican. Andrade ultimately turned over documents to Campbell’s office and federal prosecutors.

Andrade said in April that he believed Uthmeier and Jeff Aaron, a lawyer for the Hope Florida Foundation, “engaged in a conspiracy to commit money laundering and wire fraud.”

Spokespeople for DeSantis and Uthmeier did not respond to requests for comment Friday. Aaron also did not respond to a request for comment.

DeSantis has denied wrongdoing. In May, after Campbell’s office confirmed to the Herald/Times the existence of an active criminal investigation, DeSantis denounced it as “political” and took aim at Andrade.

“He took documents and he dropped them in a prosecutor’s office,” DeSantis said. “That is not an organic investigation, that’s a manufactured political operation.”

“There is no basis to do an investigation on these facts,” he added. “Everybody knows it.”

When seeking to prosecute someone, a state attorney can file charges against them or choose to present evidence before a grand jury, composed of citizens who then must decide whether there is probable cause to issue an indictment and move to a trial.

Grand juries are not usually called by prosecutors unless they feel they have potential evidence of a crime. The juries can also be used by prosecutors to avoid issuing charges themselves, which can be useful in politically loaded cases.

Grand juries are often convened for high-level felony and public corruption cases. They are secretive proceedings, where the subjects of the investigation have no representation or opportunity to provide a defense.

Campbell, whose office encompasses Tallahassee, is the son of a longtime local sheriff. An elected Democrat, he’s considered a moderate who has clashed with some of the city’s liberal leaders.

The Hope Florida Foundation scandal consumed this year’s legislative session and has dampened prospects of Casey DeSantis running to succeed her husband in 2026. The governor is term-limited.

Hope Florida has been branded as the DeSantises’ conservative answer to welfare. The multi-agency state program created and led by the first lady is intended to move Floridians off government services and connect them to local churches and nonprofits.

The Hope Florida Foundation is designed to assist the state program by collecting donations and giving money to those churches and nonprofits.

But questions about the effectiveness and validity of the program came to a head this year when DeSantis asked lawmakers to enshrine Hope Florida into law, making it a state program that would outlast his tenure.

House Republicans found that the foundation, created by the state in 2023, wasn’t complying with state laws requiring it to disclose its mission, three-year plan, code of ethics, tax returns and other records. Board meetings were also being held in secret, violating state law.

But meeting minutes from October of last year obtained by the Herald/Times showed a $10 million donation from an unknown source. The DeSantis administration refused to reveal the source of the money until April, when an official pressed by Andrade’s committee said it came from a $67 million settlement with the Medicaid contractor Centene.

Florida was one of about 20 states that Centene settled with over claims of overbilling for Medicaid prescription drugs.

DeSantis said the $10 million the Hope Florida Foundation got in the settlement was a charitable contribution — a “cherry on top” of what the company owed the state.

The records paint a different picture. Settlement documents note that Centene was “directed” by the state to divert $10 million of the $67 million to the foundation. Records showed that the original proposal was $67 million, and that DeSantis administration officials inserted the $10 million donation late in the negotiation.

Lawyers for Centene then tried to distance their clients from the agreement, records show.

Once the $10 million was given to the foundation, the board and its president gave it to two nonprofits, one of which was controlled by the Florida Chamber of Commerce.

Those organizations then directed nearly all the money to Keep Florida Clean, a political committee controlled by Uthmeier dedicated to defeating last year’s recreational marijuana ballot initiative. Andrade said this spring that he obtained text messages showing that Uthmeier and Aaron were involved in the transfers of money.

On Thursday, the Herald/Times submitted a records request to the State Attorney’s Office for any subpoenas that were served related to Hope Florida. The request was denied on Friday due to the active investigation.

Times staff writer Dan Sullivan and Herald staff writer Jay Weaver contributed to this report.

This story was originally published October 3, 2025 at 11:01 AM.