“A mistake has been made,” Florida charity leader tells lawmakers

TALHASSEE — A Florida charity, created by Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration, did not maintain meetings, did not budget or bylaws, asked a few questions before piloting two dark money groups before piloting Medicaid money to two dark money groups, the chairman told the House committee on Tuesday.

Created to support First Lady Casey Desantis’ top initiative, the Hope Florida Foundation appears to be in compliance with the requirements of state laws governing ethics, surveillance, or governance.

“In recent weeks, public reports have made clear that mistakes have occurred,” said Joshua Hay, the chairman of the board, Joshua Hay, CEO of the company that has made tens of millions of dollars with the state. “The reporting procedure is lapsed.”

The state-created charity has held three meetings since it was created in 2023, but recorded only minutes from one. The October meeting accepted a $10 million contribution from Centene, the state’s largest Medicaid contractor.

Centerne said Florida officials donated the money after informing regulators that they had been “instructed” in a legal settlement and overcharged the state.

The $10 million was a much larger contribution in the history of the Florida Foundation, Hay said. Within days, the foundation received a request to request a $5 million grant from the Dark Money Group, which is affiliated with the Florida Chamber of Commerce. This group is considered a “dark money” organization because it is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization and does not require donors to be disclosed.

Hay said he thought the money would go to a “public awareness campaign” to support Florida Hope, an initiative created by Casey DeSantis to remove Floridians from government aid. The grant was approved during a 20-minute meeting that was not published.

A few days after the meeting, a second St. Petersburg-based dark money organization also demanded and received $5 million through a similar grant to save society from drugs. Hay said the deal was cleared by charity lawyer Jeff Aaron.

“We got the assurance that it was comfortable to have been on the board through Jeff Aaron and along with all the other proofs made in the proposal,” Hay told lawmakers.

Both groups that later received the grant sent money to a political committee called Keep Florida Clean, controlled by James Usmier, then head of staff for Ron DeSantis, now the state’s attorney general. The Uthmeier committee then sent millions to Republicans in Florida to oppose last year’s recreational potbolot initiative.

Also, Desantis’ Florida Freedom Fund, which is dominated by Uthmeier, received $1.1 million from Keep Florida.

Rep. Alex Andredo, a Pensacola Republican who is investigating the charity, said Monday that Usmeyer contacted both dark money groups and told them to apply for a $5 million grant.

“This looks like a conspiracy to use Medicaid money to pay for campaign activities,” Andrade said after the hearing Tuesday. “If I were a US lawyer for the Northern District (of Florida), I would be very concerned about it.”

He said Usmeyer should “return the money and explain himself.”

Andrade said on Monday he would issue a subpoena to Uthmeier for his text messages and call logs, but by Tuesday he said he would first voluntarily seek those records.

Uthmeier said at a press conference Monday that the charity “is nothing wrong.”

“Providing generous support to other nonprofits has already decided to work with entities, share the same mission, help moms, help families and protect children,” he said.

The governor and first lady were 200 miles away in Andredo’s district when members of the House burned the leadership of the organization.

Desantis did not comment on the errors that were recognized in the House Committee. Instead, he attacked what First Lady’s initiative was characterized as “cabal” in Florida House leadership for “manufacturing smears.”

At one point, the governor suggested that Republican lawmakers are examining the program for political reasons as they are considering the governor’s run in 2026.

“A lot of people feel threatened by the First Lady, let’s be clear about that,” the governor said Casey DeSantis “runs around people.”

Andrade’s investigation into charities created by Hope Florida and its state captivated lawmakers and lobbyists at this year’s legislative meeting. They packed up Tuesday’s committee hearings, sometimes laughing and panting at the answers given by Hay, Children and Family Director Taylor Hatch, and Hope Florida’s new director, Eric Delenback. Dellenback began in January and previously served as a liaison for Desantis’ faith and community.

Neither Hatch nor Hay said they had no idea where $10 million went after being sent to two dark money groups.

Andredo asked, “The political committee is the best way to help families achieve economic self-sufficiency.”

“My understanding is that these two organizations, from what I’ve read recently, are focused on supporting families from a recovery perspective and access to care,” replied Hatch. “There’s no reason to believe that the funds have exceeded that.”

Rep. Debra Tendrich, a Lakeworth Democrat who runs her own charity, noted that the $10 million grant process was not made public, making it impossible for other organizations to apply.

She noted that charities do not have a requirement to report how the money was used. She noted that one of the grants explicitly stated that the foundation’s contributions would not be made public.

“We’re hoping for a press release, especially since we’re hoping Florida does such a great job, so we’re going to see that we’ll publish it and share this huge contribution,” Tendrich says.

“I can’t say why it wasn’t made public,” Hay said. “I relied on the advice of a lawyer.”

Foundation executives include executives and lobbyists who do business with state agencies. They include Walgreens lobbyists and executive vice president of CDR Maguire, a disaster management company that has received hundreds of millions of dollars in state contracts over the years. The Foundation does not require board members to sign statements that avoid conflicts of interest.

According to the state contract website, Hay’s company has received few emergency contracts worth around $75 million from Desantis’ agents. One of these agreements was to support the Hope Florida program for $22,400.

Hay said the board is scheduled to meet Thursday to rectify other shortfalls, including approving the tax returns and signing a statement of conflict of interest. The board has held three meetings since its inception, and none of them were open to the public, in violation of the state’s public meeting laws.

“Frankly, I was surprised,” said Rep. Allison Tanto, a Democrat from Tallahassee. “I’m trying to wrap my head around how this happened and how to prevent it from happening again.”

Hay said Tallahassee’s attorney Mohammad Jazil is helping the foundation organize the record.

Andredo said he is worried about Jazil as he also works for Uthmeier’s political committee, where he received $10 million.

Andredo said he planned to hold another hearing next week, and to hear testimony from Aaron and the leaders of the two groups who received the grant.