‘Not fully investigated’: Where the Hope Florida grand jury didn’t look

There’s a slew of investigative tools a state attorney’s office can use to pry loose evidence when no one is admitting to wrongdoing, but most of those options don’t appear to have been used by the grand jury investigating the flow of taxpayer funds to political ads and the Republican Party of Florida in 2024, according to a leaked copy of the grand jury’s report.

A grand jury has the power to subpoena and seize computers, phones and records — methods fraud investigators use all the time when met with lawyered-up witnesses who say they can’t recall anything, according to former Hillsborough State Attorney Andrew Warren.

But when the Tallahassee grand jury investigating the Hope Florida scandal hit a “wall of silence” from witnesses, instead of digging further, it came to the conclusion that, while money had been illegally “misappropriated,” determining who was to blame was impossible.

“There’s no indication that witnesses were cross-examined. There’s no indication that records were obtained, other documents,” Warren said. “A full and thorough investigation would involve subpoenaing emails and memos and text messages.”

In the weeks since CBS Miami published the grand jury’s previously confidential conclusion of its investigation into the DeSantis administration’s decision to divert $10 million from a Medicaid settlement into political campaigns, former prosecutors and frustrated Democrats have begun to question whether Leon County State Attorney Jack Campbell did everything he could and should have done to get to the bottom of the case.

Under a settlement negotiated through Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration, the funds moved through the Hope Florida Foundation’s bank account to two organizations, which gave most of the money to a political committee chaired by Gov. Ron DeSantis’ chief of staff, James Uthmeier. His committee then passed a “large portion of the money” to the Republican Party of Florida and purchased political ads, according to the leaked grand jury report.

Warren, who was suspended by DeSantis in 2022 and now serves as the deputy legal director of Democracy Defenders Fund, said there’s no way to know the full extent of the grand jury’s investigation. But, “based on the report that they put out, it appears that this crime was not fully investigated.”

Bruce Udolf, a criminal defense attorney and former chief of the public corruption section of the Miami U.S. Attorney’s Office, called the effort a “cover-your-ass investigation” for which Campbell should be “excoriated.”

Former Miami Chief Assistant State Attorney Michael Band said there could be text messages between key figures and phone logs that could be relevant.

The State Attorney’s Office can send investigators to those involved for a conversation, and then force testimony through a grand jury if people aren’t compliant. And when testimonies conflict, prosecutors can seize records to discern who is right, Band said.

But the grand jury’s report only cites four outside documents as exhibits: two versions of the proposed settlement agreement and the two $5 million grant requests submitted to the Hope Florida Foundation.

No emails, text messages or phone logs are listed as exhibits. There are key witnesses who don’t appear to have been interviewed, no clear evidence of cross-examination about conflicting testimonies and no indication that the grand jury sought out records to prove witness testimony, according to the report.

Campbell’s office declined to comment on the criticism of his team’s investigative process, pointing to Florida law that keeps grand jury reports confidential as people named in the report request redactions from the court.

Unturned stones

Nine of the 22 people mentioned in the report didn’t provide documented testimony to the committee, according to the leaked report — and many of them are Florida’s top Republican leaders.

James Uthmeier

Now Florida’s attorney general, Uthmeier encouraged the executive director of Save Our Society from Drugs to apply for a grant from the Hope Florida Foundation and connected her with the foundation’s attorney, according to the grand jury report. Within a week of receiving the funds, the organization gave $4.75 million of it to a political committee run by Uthmeier.

The report found that he was “in a position of authority over those involved” in the settlement.

But the grand jury didn’t appear to bring him in for questioning. Some legal experts have speculated this could be because he was the primary target of the investigation and prosecutors didn’t want to grant him immunity.

But, Warren said, it would have still been possible for a motivated grand jury to subpoena his testimony without granting him immunity — and show the public whether he refused to answer questions or not.

When asked by the Herald/Times whether the diversion of funds for Hope Florida was Uthmeier’s idea, Jeremy Redfern, the attorney general’s deputy chief of staff, said Uthmeier had already publicly denied coming up with the plan when he told Fox News, “I wasn’t part of the Agency for Health Care’s legal settlement.”

Ron and Casey DeSantis

Florida first lady Casey DeSantis is named in the grand jury’s report as the “champion” of Hope Florida. And the governor is mentioned as the boss for multiple staffers involved in implementing the settlement, and having a “personal and professional relationship” with the lawyer who was a key middleman between the Hope Florida charity and the organizations receiving the grant funds.

DeSantis has repeatedly called reporting on the flow of funds and investigations by the grand jury and the Florida House of Representatives a “hoax.”

The grand jury did not list testimony from either DeSantis in their report.

Ashley Moody

Former Attorney General Ashley Moody authorized her chief deputy, John Guard, to sign the settlement with the unusually diverted funds on her behalf, and he raised “political concerns” to her, according to witness testimony in the report.

He later signed the settlement “without conducting his due diligence to ensure the proper appropriation of taxpayer funds,” according to the report. Additionally, despite telling the grand jury he was only involved in ensuring the attorney general’s office wouldn’t be in legal trouble, witnesses said he was also a key voice for signatories in other agencies about the “propriety” of the settlement.

Moody has previously stated that her office had “no knowledge of how funds would be spent.”

DeSantis later appointed Moody to an open U.S. Senate seat. She is up for election this year. She was not listed as a witness, nor are any emails, texts or communications between her and Guard cited in the report.

Joe Hart

The general counsel at the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation reviewed the settlement agreement and told one of the four signatories that there was nothing “contrary to law” about it, according to witness testimony. There’s no testimony from Hart in the report. He did not respond to a Herald/Times request for comment.

Frank Walker

Frank Walker leads the Florida Chamber of Commerce’s political team and was a board member for Secure Florida’s Future, one of the two organizations that received settlement funds and passed them on to Uthmeier’s political committee.

That organization’s executive director told the grand jury Walker suggested he ask for $5 million from Hope Florida, but the jury did not appear to ask Walker where he got the “tip” or cite any communications Walker had with state officials about the idea. He did not respond to questions from the Herald/Times by phone and email.

Republican Party of Florida

According to the grand jury’s report, the Republican Party of Florida was granted $7 million from the Uthmeier-run political committee that was the eventual recipient of $8.5 million in Hope Florida settlement funds.

No party documents, discussions or records appear to have been subpoenaed by the grand jury, based on the report and no party official is listed as a witness. Party Chairman Evan Power did not respond to questions about whether the grand jury subpoenaed or seized any party documents or communications as part of its investigation, or invited party officials to testify.

Outside law firms

Two outside law firms — one hired by the attorney general’s office called Liston and Deas and another hired by the state’s Agency for Health Care Administration secretary called Myers and Stauffer — reviewed the settlement agreement and advised that it was a good settlement, according to witness testimony.

According to the testimony, part of the reason the settlement was viewed favorably was because the $10 million for Hope Florida was described as a “bonus.” The grand jury soundly rejected that legal theory, nor did the state abide by it when calculating how much was owed to the federal government.

Neither firm nor its attorneys were cited as a witness. The grand jury misspelled Liston and Deas’ name. Myers and Stauffer declined to comment to the Herald/Times. Liston and Deas did not respond to emailed questions.

Conflicting testimonies

Of those who did testify, there were clear discrepancies that don’t appear to have been investigated further in cross-examination.

One witness said that Jason Weida, now DeSantis’ chief of staff and the secretary of the Agency for Health Care Administration at the time of the settlement negotiations, had the idea to direct a portion of the taxpayer funds to Hope Florida. Another witness said Weida directed the drafting of the settlement agreement.

Weida, however, said he “did not recall” who suggested Hope Florida receive the funds, according to the report.

Rather than seize documents to find out who was right, the grand jury concluded that they could not charge anybody because “nobody will take responsibility for deciding the $10 million of taxpayer money would go to Hope Florida.”

Weida did not respond to emailed questions from the Herald/Times.

Guard, the top deputy in the Attorney General’s Office, said he initially assumed the $10 million was set aside for attorney’s fees, even though there is no payment for attorneys included in the state’s final settlement agreement. The grand jury did not document any further exploration of Guard’s argument — except to say, “It is unknown why Mr. Guard made this assumption.”

One of the signatories asked a DeSantis staffer, Katie Strickland, whether the agreement had been vetted, according to the report, and she said yes. According to Strickland’s retelling, she couldn’t remember saying that, but if she did, she would have been referring to the governor’s legal department.

The grand jury did not cite any seized or subpoenaed documents or records to determine whether the governor’s office “vetted” the settlement, leaving the discrepancy as another mystery of the report. Strickland did not respond to emailed questions.

‘Not fully investigated’: Where the Hope Florida grand jury didn’t look