In April 2025, multiple posts on social media accused Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis of misappropriating millions of dollars of state Medicaid funds obtained in a legal settlement.
Several weeks after the allegations began to spread online, the Tampa Bay Times published an exposé (archived) on April 22, 2025, indicating DeSantis' administration diverted $10 million from a $67 million settlement between the state of Florida and the state's largest Medicaid contractor, Centene, to the Hope Florida Foundation, a charity headed by his wife, Casey DeSantis. The money then went to two "dark money" groups that later contributed $8.5 million to a political committee behind DeSantis' campaign to oppose a pro-marijuana bill, according to records the Times acquired.
Before the Times published its investigation, DeSantis implied the $10 million donation was in addition to the settlement, saying at a news conference on April 10, 2025, "This is kind of like a cherry on top, where they agreed to make an additional contribution."
We reached out to DeSantis' office, and a spokesperson for him pointed to a news conference the governor gave on April 23, in which he alleged the Times' investigation was a "fabricated report." He claimed the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration, which oversaw the settlement funds, released a document hours after the investigation published showing the state and Centene reached a $56 million settlement, not $67 million, with an additional $10 million donation to Hope Florida.
However, the proposed written agreement the Tampa Bay Times acquired indicated Centene paid a "total settlement" of approximately $67 million, not $56 million.
Centene responded to a request for comment via email with a statement saying the Medicaid provider "had no part in or knowledge" regarding Hope Florida's use of the $10 million donation. The corporation's full statement is as follows:
The terms in the settlement document speak for themselves. The allocation of funds detailed in the settlement document was directed by the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) and approved by the Florida Attorney General's Office. Centene had no part in or knowledge of any decision by the Hope Florida Foundation regarding the subsequent use of any Foundation funds.
As more details emerged on April 22, a Florida Senate spending panel passed a bill that would establish a joint legislative committee on Medicaid oversight.
Below, we break down what the Times' investigation found and what we know about Hope Florida as well as the eventual payments to the political committee behind DeSantis' campaign to defeat Amendment 3, which would have legalized recreational marijuana.
What did the Times' investigation find?
In February 2022, Florida drafted an agreement with for-profit health care company Centene Corp. following allegations across multiple states that the company overcharged Medicaid recipients. The Florida Agency for Health Care Administration oversaw the funds. This agreement indicates that Florida proposed Centene pay a total settlement of $67,048,611.
Mississippi law firm Liston & Deas reached out to the state of Florida offering services to reach this settlement — DeSantis' spokespeople at first maintained that Centene notified Florida it was eligible for money. The Times' investigation found Florida eventually fired the law firm in 2023 and never paid it for its services.
Instead, DeSantis officials quietly reached a settlement with Centene that included a one-time $10 million donation to Hope Florida in addition to the "balance" of the "Settlement Amount," which was $57,048,611. Attorney Lawrence Deas told the Times that the state did not mention a donation to Hope Florida during the settlement talks, and the firm didn't learn of it until its lawyers saw media reports. The complete agreement the Tampa Bay Times acquired is below:
The Times' investigation also referenced the newspaper's finding from earlier in April in which the outlet used campaign finance records and documents to confirm that the $10 million allocated to Hope Florida then went to two "dark money" groups — meaning that as 501(c)(4) organizations, they are under no legal obligation to reveal their sources of funding.
The Times reported (archived) that Hope Florida sent $5 million each to two organizations that then gave $8.5 million to a political committee overseen by DeSantis' chief of staff in a kind of circular payment back to DeSantis' administration. The committee's purpose was to oppose Amendment 3, a failed bill that would have legalized marijuana in Florida.
(Snopes illustration)
While other states published news releases announcing their settlements with Centene, Florida did not. According to a Kaiser Family Foundation HealthNews story from March 5, 2025, "State officials declined to answer a reporter's questions about whether Florida has dropped the case, reached an undisclosed settlement, or is still discussing the issue."
The Times reported that the state did not disclose the $67 million settlement to the public until state Rep. Alex Andrade, a Pensacola Republican, and others began raising questions.
What we know about
The Hope Florida Foundation, which Casey DeSantis launched in 2021, is a charity branded as a program to help get Floridians off government assistance.
"Since this has been implemented, we've gotten 30,000 people off welfare and saved the state of Florida $100 million," Ron
One of the foundation's major goals is to help people "graduate" from Medicaid, which funds health care for people with low incomes. The Hope Florida website explains how the foundation connects with Floridians through a hotline and identifies local resources to assist them in getting off government assistance. Its About page reads:
But Hope Florida doesn't stop there — we firmly believe that more government is not always the best solution to the problem. Instead, government is utilized as a meaningful connection point and then gets out of the way. Our partnerships with the private sector, faith-based communities, and nonprofits bridge the gap between Floridians in need and local community resources available to them. Through our collaboration with CarePortal, Hope Navigators can post real-time needs such as a warm meal, a bed for a foster family, or an outstanding utility bill, notifying good people in the community of impactful ways to give help.
Next, we step aside and let the power of the community shine through. At Hope Florida, we're not just offering a handout — we're empowering individuals to embrace their full God-given potential.
However, state officials have not shared any evidence regarding data about the charity's performance or how much it costs, according to The Miami Herald.
What was DeSantis' response?
On April 10, DeSantis said during a news conference that "the AHCA settlement was 100% appropriate, they negotiated a very good deal and it served the state very very well" (at 32:45). He said the donation was "kind of like a cherry on top" (at 34:55).
On April 23, DeSantis said at a news conference that hours after the Times' investigation published, the AHCA put forward a document that explained the agreements.
We wrote to the AHCA via email, and the agency responded with its letter to Andrade in which it claimed the "$10 million donation to the DSO ["direct-support organization" to the Department of Children and Families] was not comprised of Medicaid funds." The letter said Centene identified about $56.2 million of Medicaid-related damages and that the remainder of the settlement — $10.8 million — "was not to compenstate the State for loss of Medicaid funds, but rather 'to provide reimbursement … for any other potentially alleged damages.'"
The full letter was as follows:
In sum …
The Tampa Bay Times acquired records in early April 2025 indicating the DeSantis administration directed $10 million obtained in a legal settlement to the first lady's charity, where it then went to two "dark money" groups that gave $8.5 million in total to a political committee behind a DeSantis campaign to block a pro-marijuana bill.
Countering DeSantis' claims that the $10 million donation to Hope Florida was "in addition" to the settlement, on April 22 the Times reported the funds consisted of Medicaid money owed to taxpayers.
DeSantis, meanwhile, has said the settlement was "appropriate," and Florida's Agency for Health Care Administration said in a letter that the $10 million "was not comprised of Medicaid funds."