Farve-gate like scandal hits Florida Desantis caught stealing Medicaid money

A year after his presidential ambitions collapsed, Gov. Ron DeSantis and his wife Casey can no longer lay claim to the future of the Republican Party. And in Florida, even their present is in jeopardy.

Once firmly in his corner, many Sunshine State Republicans have lately turned on DeSantis, stymying his agenda and frustrating him to no end. At the same time, Casey DeSantis, long regarded as a political force in her own right, is encountering quiet but firm resistance as she lays the groundwork for a potential run to succeed her husband — a campaign that would pit her against President Donald Trump’s handpicked choice to lead the state, Rep. Byron Donalds.

Now, a funding scandal involving one of Casey’s signature initiatives — a state assistance program known as Hope Florida — is casting a shadow over the governor’s legacy and complicating her political ambitions. Lawmakers spent the spring investigating why $10 million from a state Medicaid settlement was routed to a charity connected to Hope Florida, which then transferred the same amount to two groups that financially backed a DeSantis-led campaign against legalizing recreational marijuana. Key lawmakers have publicly suggested the flow of money appears illegal.

The couple have fiercely stood by their work and denied wrongdoing. DeSantis this week called the criticism of Hope Florida “all political.” Standing alongside her husband Thursday, Casey DeSantis characterized the program as “a philosophy” that “shows we can help people in need.”

Remarkably, the investigation into Hope Florida was not by Democrats, but by Republicans — a striking sign of DeSantis’ eroding clout in a state capital he once controlled with unchallenged authority. Outside Tallahassee, some of Trump’s staunchest allies in Florida have helped to amplify the controversy to their MAGA followers.

Amid the fallout, the DeSantises have grown increasingly isolated. Donors, fundraisers and operatives are fleeing their orbit, and at the moment, few in Florida politics seem willing to sign up for another campaign with the couple. Multiple people have turned down positions in a potential gubernatorial campaign, according to two sources who remain in contact with the governor’s remaining team.

“These days, I can’t tell the difference between being their friend and their enemy,” a longtime Republican operative once close to the governor told CNN.

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Casey’s

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It's still undefeated. Brought down a many of men.

A funding controversy
Casey DeSantis launched Hope Florida in 2021 with a mission to wean people off government assistance by connecting them with faith-based and other charitable help in their communities. It quickly became her hallmark project as she built up her profile, regularly distributing novelty checks carrying the state seal and her signature. Eventually, Casey and Ron DeSantis would tout the program in other states as they campaigned for president as a one-two punch in 2023.

Around that time, the Florida Department of Children and Families created the Hope Florida Foundation, a separate nonprofit entity assigned to bolster the state program. In its first year, the foundation raised about $800,000 in donations and awarded only $40,000 in financial assistance, according to a recently released tax return.

Last year, the foundation saw its coffers boom by $10 million. At the time, few people noticed. But a Florida House committee probing the organization discovered the source of the windfall: A state settlement with Centene, a Medicaid contractor that had overbilled Florida and other states. The agreement with Centene included an unusual provision that required the company to donate $10 million to the Hope Florida Foundation.

Within days of the donation, the foundation awarded two $5 million grants to a pair of political groups, according to documents first reported by the Tampa Bay Times and Miami Herald and provided to CNN by the foundation’s lawyer, Jeff Aaron. The two organizations then sent $8.5 million to Keep Florida Clean, a committee that spearheaded the successful fight last November against a ballot measure that would have amended the state constitution to legalize recreational marijuana.

Keep Florida Clean was operated by James Uthmeier, the governor’s chief of staff at the time who DeSantis later named Florida’s attorney general. Uthmeier has denied any wrongdoing.

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier during a press conference on April 14. - Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel/Getty Images
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier during a press conference on April 14. - Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel/Getty ImagesMore
After the election, campaign finance records show Keep Florida Clean shifted $1.2 million to the Florida Freedom Fund, a political committee controlled by the governor. The committee could ultimately be used to support Casey DeSantis’ political ambitions. A spokesperson for the governor’s political operations did not respond to a request for comment.

State Rep. Alex Andrade, a Republican who led the House investigation, told CNN the money trail “looks very much like wire fraud and money laundering to me.” On Thursday, he announced his committee has concluded its work, but he has publicly encouraged law enforcement agencies to review the committee’s findings.

“I hope @PamBondi is paying attention,” Andrade wrote on X, tagging Trump’s attorney general and former top prosecutor in Florida. Bondi’s office declined to comment.

DeSantis contended at an appearance earlier this month that the $10 million was separate from the state settlement and “kind of like a cherry on top, where they agreed to make an additional contribution.” Bryan Griffin, a spokesman for the governor, argued that neither Ron or Casey DeSantis has a role in the Hope Florida Foundation and said the state program “has been extremely successful and has helped 30,000 Floridians reduce or eliminate reliance on public assistance.”

Close ties to lobbyists
Other elements of Hope Florida illustrate the coziness between the governor’s political orbit and his wife’s top priority.

The chairman of the Hope Florida Foundation is Joshua Hay, the CEO of Indelible Solutions, a company that the state has paid tens of millions of dollars since he joined the charity, the Times and Herald reported. His company donated $125,000 to DeSantis’ 2022 reelection. A board member for the foundation, Tina Vidal-Duart, is executive vice president for CDR Enterprises, a consulting company that donated $1 million to a Super PAC that supported DeSantis’ presidential campaign. Her husband Carlos Vidal is the company president and CEO.

In this August 2024 photo, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and first lady Casey DeSantis announce a new resource for disaster recovery during a news conference in Sarasota. - Thomas Bender/Sarasota Herald-Tribune/USA Today Network/Imagn Images
In this August 2024 photo, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and first lady Casey DeSantis announce a new resource for disaster recovery during a news conference in Sarasota. - Thomas Bender/Sarasota Herald-Tribune/USA Today Network/Imagn ImagesMore
Several of the foundation’s top donors contributed to DeSantis’ political committee as well, including Centene, according to tax documents and campaign finance records.

And then there’s Unite Us, a health technology company hired to build the web-based portal that connects people in need to local services. Unite Us rostered a noteworthy team of lobbyists that included Dane Eagle, DeSantis’ former Secretary of the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity; his former chief of staff Adrian Lukis and former deputy chief of staff Courtney Coppola. Nine days after the state executed the contract with Unite US, DeSantis’ presidential campaign announced Coppola and Eagle would serve on his national finance committee.

The state awarded the $3.9 million deal to Unite Us despite a track record of supporting initiatives that clashed with DeSantis’ crackdown on progressive priorities, like promoting transgender rights and diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The technology company’s positions on those issues could provide Republican foes another attack line against Casey DeSantis tied to Hope Florida.

In the past, Unite Us had publicly boasted on its website its commitment to diversity in hiring, gender neutral restrooms at its New York and Los Angeles offices and use of gender pronouns on internal communications. Days after Casey DeSantis barnstormed through Iowa in June 2023 sporting a custom-made leather jacket embroidered with the slogan “Where Woke Goes to Die,” Unite Us announced a workplace culture award, noting its DEI efforts and that most of its staff were women, non-binary and minorities.

“In so many organizations, ‘diversity,’ ‘equity,’ and ‘inclusion’ are just big-ticket buzz words,” said a quote on archived web page for Unite Us. “But at Unite Us, diversity, equity, and inclusion are core to our mission.” The webpage no longer appears to be operational.

The governor’s office said he had no involvement in the awarding of the Unite Us contract. Miguel Nevarez, a spokesman for the Florida Department of Children and Families, said a team of negotiators for the contract unanimously selected Unite Us.

Nevarez also noted that DCF has provisions in its contracts “that restricts the use of any state funds for the purpose of promoting, advocating for, or providing training or education on “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.” The contract with Unite Us specified that the portal could not “list categories or subcategories related to diversity, equity, or inclusion.”

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Roger Stone

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Been anti RDS since the Gov removed Scott Israel from office

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Former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, who remains close to Trump and is weighing his own gubernatorial run, has also seized on the controversy through his One America News program.

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If the pedo runs for anything it'll be AG

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Trump 100, Desantis 0. He is done and his bitch wife with him

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You shite libs are triggered

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Gotta finance Casey’s campaign somehow.

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It seems to me looking in from the outside, that Casey became a greedy succubus and torpedoed Ron.

Dude was legitimately one of the more straight laced and conservative politicians of this era, but there was a strange shift when he decided to listen to the bad advice of others and throw his hat in for the 2024 Prez race. He hasn't been the same since then, even during his campaign.

It never felt organic. From the very beginning, it felt like a contrived and forced error. I like Ron and I hope this crap isn't true, but if it is he is cooked, and I wouldn't be surprised to see him take the brunt of everything while Casey goes shopping.

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I know a few simps here that would sign up for Casey

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Wouldnt sign up.

Wood check this site daily to see if any were illegally leaked on the interwebs though.

We will see how this plays out, but it won't shock me if it's true. DeSantis had always impressed me, but him deciding to run against Trump in 2024 began the process of exposing some deep flaws that he has. For one thing, Trump's endorsement was the only reason why DeSantis won the governorship in the first place. Hell, DeSantis ran multiple ads featuring Trump during both campaigns. Why would a man of integrity be totally disloyal to the person who gave you the biggest boost in your entire career?

Then, and ronbots hate hearing this, DeSantis made another huge error by aligning himself with anti-Trump forces. Most notably, the filthy Bush family cabal. And to top it all off, DeSantis proved that he didn't possess the political acumen to distinguish himself from the likes of Neocon Nikki or the other candidates.

We already have one 2028 presidential candidate who is far superior to DeSantis in every way, and that's J.D. Vance. JD is smarter, has more integrity, more charisma, far more articulate, etc.

I sincerely hope Ron hasn't done anything wrong here. He's been a good Governor of Florida. Not only that, but the corrupt, bought-and-paid-for corporate media will have a field day with this story. But MAGA has already moved on from RD. JD and probably a few others will be much stronger candidates in 2028.

The motto here? Poor choices can sink even the strongest of political ships.

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TutHillTiger

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1) CNN....
2) Anonymous sources

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“These days, I can’t tell the difference between being their friend and their enemy,” a longtime Republican operative once close to the governor told CNN.

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3) Stone and Loomer...

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Close allies of Trump are gleefully watching the funding scandal unfold. Roger Stone, Trump’s longtime political adviser, recently dissected the scandal on his podcast with the help of the Florida Democratic Party leader. Laura Loomer, a deeply devoted Trump ally and a regular DeSantis tormenter, has amplified the developments out of Tallahassee to her 1.6 million followers on X.

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I would really like to know how many times Ron slept with your wife for you to be so obsessed with him.