DeSantis diverted $10M of Medicaid cash to wife's charity: report

A newly revealed document shows Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration diverted $10 million in Medicaid dollars to a charity controlled by his wife.

Lawyers working with the state drafted a settlement agreement that said Florida’s largest Medicaid contractor, Centene, had overbilled taxpayers more than $67 million for medications, according to a copy of that document obtained by the Miami Herald/Times. But instead of returning all of that to state and federal taxpayers, the administration sent $10 million to the Hope Florida Foundation.

"The money was then sent to two nonprofit organizations that aren’t required to report how they spend their funds," the Herald/Times reported. "Those 'dark money' groups later gave $8.5 million to a political committee overseen by DeSantis’ chief of staff in a series of transactions that some Republican lawmakers believe was illegal.

"How Medicaid is allocated, which pays for healthcare services for the poor, is highly regulated."

The draft agreement contradicts statements by the governor and other state officials claiming the money was a charitable contribution by Centene, which DeSantis said "was in addition to what they [the state] were getting.”

“This is kind of like a cherry on top, where they agreed to make an additional contribution,” DeSantis said.

The governor has attacked reporters and state lawmakers who have questioned the Hope Florida initiative, which is overseen by his wife Casey DeSantis and is intended to reduce lower-income people's reliance on government aid.

DeSantis officials quietly reached a $67 million settlement with Centene in September but it wasn't disclosed by the state until this month, when reporters and state Rep. Alex Andrade (R-Pensacola) started asking about a mysterious $10 million donation the Hope Florida Foundation.

The law firm Liston & Deas, which worked on the settlement involving Florida and other states overbilled by the Medicaid giant, wasn't part of the final settlement and was not paid for their services after the state fired them in 2022.

Representatives for the firm told the newspaper that a donation to Hope Florida Foundation had not been discussed in their settlement talks, and the firm learned of the settlement through media reports.