The Florida home abruptly ended last week an investigation into a diversion from a Medicaid settlement to a nonprofit linked to its wife by administering $10 million.
What happens next? Is someone responsible? Or will the recently discovered explosive discoveries become unexplored and die from a vine?
Even some lawmakers in Gov. Ron DeSantis’ party have publicly said that remittances to the Florida Foundation are illegal and officials may be guilty of a crime.
But legal and political observers have said whether those pursuing criminal charges have more to do with politics, including how they play between DeSantis and President Donald Trump than Florida or federal law.
What did you look into about the house?
The problem is $10 million from federal Medicaid contractor Stène as part of a legal settlement with the state for overcharges on prescription drugs. The DeSantis administration has directed the company to fund the Hope Florida Foundation, a charity established to support First Lady Casey DeSantis’s Hope Florida initiative.
The foundation then gave money to two nonprofits, then $8.5 million to a political committee ruled by the governor’s chief of staff, James Usmierer. He was subsequently appointed state attorney general. The committee funded a successful campaign last year to beat a constitutional amendment that would legalize the use of recreational marijuana.
State law requires that money from this type of legal settlement be deposited in state funds. Federal law also strictly regulates the way funds from programs like Medicaid are used.
Has the law been broken? If so, what will happen?
The Desantis administration denied that $10 million came from the Medicaid fund, calling it an additional charitable contribution center that was made as part of the settlement. However, the draft settlement agreement contradicts its claim.
Rep. Alex Andredo, a Pensacola Republican, led his Florida home investigation into the issue. It ended last week before many of the players involved testified.
Still, Andredo said he is “sturdy convinced” that Florida Foundation lawyer Jeff Aaron is “engaged in a conspiracy to commit money laundering and wire fraud.”
“This looks like a conspiracy to use Medicaid money to pay for campaign activities,” he said last week. “If I were a US lawyer for the Northern District (of Florida), I would be very concerned about it.”
When asked about his comments by the Times/Herald, a spokesman for the U.S. Lawyer’s Office said “no comments.”
Who investigates federal crime?
Federal prosecutors can invoke any number of criminal laws in potential cases that include settlements.
Orlando’s criminal defense lawyer Fritz Scheller said the wire fraud charge would be the simplest case to pursue.
According to Scheller, the wire fraud law is a “love or go-to federal law” for prosecutors in any matter, including allegations of fraud. Such cases give the government a “easy burden” indicating that interstate wires such as texts, phone calls, emails, or remittances have been used to promote fraudulent schemes.
Other federal laws may also apply. The “honest service fraud” laws tend to be used to combat corruption. In fact, if the funds come from Medicaid, criminal laws on medical fraud could be invoked.
But just as important as which law could have been broken is the question of whether the government is willing to bring about a case that is undoubtedly complicated, violently sued, and politically charged.
Scheller said that while the U.S. Department of Justice is seen as an agency that addresses major cases that state officials cannot handle, in fact, they often chase crime on a simple street level.
“As I’ve said in the past, you can fill in statistics sheets by indicting minority smoking pots, so why is this a difficult indictment involving suspects?” Scheller said.
Ellen Podgaul, a professor at the School of Law at Stetson University and a white-collar crime expert, said U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondy was instructing prosecutors to focus on foreign corrupt practices laws in February, while highlighting things like bribery among foreign officials.
“It appears that the Attorney General’s priorities now focus on the field of immigration,” Podgaul said. “All attorney generals can choose their priorities. That’s within their discretion. But I’ve now seen some priorities that appear to be taking the backseat.”
Many may rely on the attitudes of their fellow Floridians, Trump and Bondi, towards DeSantis.
They were once allies, but their relationship with the governor and the president got worse when DeSantis challenged Trump for the 2024 presidential nomination. Trump had already supported Rep. Byron Donald to take over DeSantis as governor, despite reportedly first lady Casey DeSantis running.
Can Trump use the Justice Department to threaten him? Daryl Paulson, professor emeritus of government at the University of South Florida, said he suspected it, but said the threat lies there.
“We may be a law country,” Paulson said.
Who might investigate the state accusations?
It is unlikely, but it is possible for state officials to seek criminal charges. Under normal circumstances, the state attorney general was able to pursue a fraud case.
But that possibility comes along with Florida Hope, as Usmeyer, who is now the state’s chief legal officer, is directly involved. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the state’s leading investigative body reporting to DeSantis, is unlikely to promote criminal cases as well.
Another possibility is that local elected state attorneys can bring criminal charges.
Jack Campbell, the state attorney for Leon County, who covers Tallahassee, is most likely in a position to file a state criminal case. He is a Democrat. But he said he has almost insight into the situation beyond what is written in the news article.
“You and your colleagues have done a great job. I’m certainly interested in your article, but that’s all I have right now,” Campbell said.
He said there were “great lawyers” in Congress, noting that some of them were former prosecutors.
“If they feel they have evidence of a crime, they know how to find me,” Campbell said. “It’s like I’m here.”
Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau Reporter Lawrence Mower contributed to this report.
