Gov. DeSantis calls grand jury report on $10M Medicaid diversion a "hoax," while Jolly pushes for new investigation

In the wake of CBS News Miami reporting that a state grand jury had found his administration misappropriated $10 million of taxpayer money into the Hope Florida Foundation, Governor Ron DeSantis angrily denounced the investigation and continued to call it all a hoax.

"The only crime that was apparent was whoever leaked the grand jury report," DeSantis said.

The grand jury found that key officials in the governor's office diverted the $10 million from a Medicaid settlement as "part of a sophisticated scheme to fund political activities," according to a copy of the sealed grand jury report obtained by CBS News Miami.

The grand jury report said the money, which was supposed to be used to provide health insurance for poor children, was instead hastily passed through multiple organizations before eventually landing in the bank accounts of two political action committees and the Republican Party of Florida. Those funds were then used in 2024 to defeat Amendment 3, the citizen initiative to legalize marijuana in Florida.

"Despite our finding that the money was misappropriated, we find insufficient evidence to charge anyone criminally," the report concluded. "Nobody will take responsibility for deciding the $10 million of taxpayer money would go to Hope Florida… or had any memory of who made it."

"We recognize that this would be an impediment to criminal prosecution," the report noted. "While we can't prove who is responsible, we can plainly see that taxpayer money was misused for political purposes and we would like to see changes made to prevent this from happening again."  

DeSantis pushed back on the findings Thursday morning.

"There was no diversion of any Medicaid funds," DeSantis said. "The settlement was legally sound. It was appropriate and advanced the interests of the state."

The grand jury strongly disagreed, calling the money taxpayer money that was "owed to Florida taxpayers."

David Jolly, the Democratic candidate for governor, said the findings describe a deliberate scheme.

"There was an orchestrated scheme to launder state Medicaid money into a charity operated by the First Lady for the political purposes of the governor," Jolly said.

Jolly said that if elected, he would reopen the grand jury investigation.

"I just think where you smell corruption, you pursue it," Jolly said. "I don't trust our sitting attorney general to do that. Clearly, he's a subject of this investigation. I think the office of the governor should reopen a fact-finding investigation into exactly what happened."

Jolly said the Florida Legislature should act on the grand jury's recommendations, specifically to require that any money recovered in future Medicaid settlements go directly to general revenue.

"I call on the legislature to consider the changes recommended to ensure that any Medicaid money that may be recovered in future settlements is directed to general revenue and cannot be laundered or misdirected as we saw in the case of Hope, Florida," Jolly said.

Jolly also called on Republican Byron Donalds to join him in agreeing to reopen the grand jury investigation. CBS News Miami is waiting to hear back from Donalds.