Talahassee – Congressman is completing his investigation into Gov. Ron DeSantis’s Hope Florida Foundation without hearing testimony from lawyers or leaders of two groups of organizations that received $5 million in grants from the charity.
Rep. Alex Andrade, a Pensacola Republican, who spearheads the investigation, said he believes Florida Attorney General James Usmeyer and charity lawyer Jeff Aaron committed criminal acts when he moved $10 million from an excess of Medicaid settlement to the foundation.
The foundation gave money to two other nonprofits, and then gave $8.5 million to the political committee managed by Uthmeier.
But Andredo said his committee would not prosecute them. The legislative session is expected to end next week.
“While we are sure James Usmier and Jeff Aaron are engaged in conspiracy to commit money laundering and wire fraud, some political parties have played a role in the misuse of the Medicaid funds of $10 million, we told Lawmakers that lawmakers would not make the ultimate charging decision.
“I think our work on this topic in this ability as a subcommittee will conclude,” he added.
The $10 million comes from state Medicaid contractor St.Ne as part of a $67 million legal settlement for overbuilding of prescription drugs. State officials “directed” the company in September to donate money to the Florida Foundation Hope.
Over the next three weeks, the Foundation Committee held a secret meeting to award $5 million to 501(c)(4), which was overseen by Florida Chamber of Commerce CEO Mark Wilson, with the board chair awarding an additional $5 million from the St. Petersburg-based Save Our Society. The group does not need to disclose donors.
These groups then both sent almost all of their money to a political committee overseen by Usmeyer. The committee was created to break Amendment 3, a failed voting initiative that attempted to legalize recreational marijuana.
The text message shows that Uthmeier told our society to the leader of drugs Amy Ronshausen to save save to apply for money.
“There is no doubt that these were Medicaid funds piloted by the Chief of Staff through the governor’s secret and secret actions through his own political committee,” Andrade told lawmakers Thursday.
Andrade said earlier this month that he would issue a subpoena to Uthmeier, but the next day he retreated the threat. He still has many requests for records, including notable text messages and call logs to DeSantis’ agency.
“The governor’s office hopes this will become a distracting sight from the real issues,” Andredo said in a subsequent text message. “As a lawmaker, I know what I need to know. It’s up to the FBI and the DOJ to worry about fighting public corruption.”
He added, “The next session will address policy amendments to address the obvious public corruption that James Usmier has shown.”
Aaron responded to his lawyer Andrade by threatening to file a complaint with a state lawyer. A Uthmeier spokesperson called the statement “a loss of honor.”
“These ridiculous accusations are false and not based on judicial findings or records of evidence,” Usmeyer spokesman Jeremy Redfern said in a statement.
“The representative must remember that he is a member of a Florida bar and must follow a professional and ethical canon,” Redfern added. “And those norms generally discourage him from accusations of wild honour and loss that he lobbed at the Attorney General.”
Andredo responded to both by refusing to withdraw his statement.
“I will not be threatened by James Usmier or threatened by silence,” he said in a statement. “I have an obligation to fight corruption, even from him.”
Wilson and Ronschausen said they would testify before the committee on Thursday, but both retreated just minutes before it began, Andredo said. Aaron initially said he could attend the hearing on Friday, but he also retreated.
Each cited legal or confidentiality issues.
Aaron wrote Andrade that he does not want all Florida Foundation board members to waive lawyers and clients privileges.
Wilson wrote that he would further “examine” his organization’s involvement in using money to combat the legalization of recreational marijuana.
Ronshausen writes that she wrote that she “want to preserve all privileges” of the organization “legal or otherwise.”
“Now when I was asked to speak with members of this committee ‘from the record’, I was sure it would remain a secret, so I need more now,” Ron Schausen told Andrede in an email at 7:47am.
Andredo told reporters after the committee that he was misled by the parent organization that saves our society from drugs – Drug Free America – “I feel misled by Jeff Aaron and James Usmier.”
“They have activated their insurance contracts. They are concerned about liability. They have taken steps to correct it and they have already provided some documents as required in the document,” Andrade said.
Andredo was able to convene a special committee to testify to Ronschausen and Wilson, but he had already shown that $10 million had been poured into the correction committee to the political committee of Uthmeier.
“Now, I have now made a summary that is pretty concise and factually supported,” Andredo said. “I’ll leave the rest of the investigation to the FBI and the Department of Justice.”
Rep. Debra Tendrich, a Lake Worth Democrat who works for the committee, said he wanted to ask basic questions about money, including telling Wilson to ask $5 million.
Tendrich, who runs her own nonprofit, pointed out that the grant was not advertised, and she said she wondered why Wilson’s organization wrote that she “voluntarily does not disclose” its grant application. Both are extremely rare for nonprofits.
She said taxpayers deserve to have an answer as to what was done with money.
“It doesn’t show up and it suggests to them that there is fraud in this,” Tendrich said.
