A Republican state representative is accusing Florida's top law enforcement officer of committing fraud and money laundering while serving as the governor's chief of staff — all stemming from an investigation into Hope Florida.
Rep. Alex Andrade, R-Pensacola, told host Tom Hudson on "The Florida Roundup" that he believes Attorney General James Uthmeier and Hope Florida Foundation attorney Jeff Aaron committed criminal fraud and money laundering.
Andrade, who has been leading a House investigation into the program and foundation, also suggested that Gov. Ron DeSantis should remove Uthmeier from office.
"This is a misuse of Medicaid dollars, a misuse of taxpayer dollars, I believe it’s money laundering and wire fraud," Andrade said.
The DeSantis administration and Uthmeier deny that there was any wrongdoing.
Hope Florida is a nonprofit organization started by first lady Casey DeSantis. Its mission is to provide help for Floridians by serving as a "connection point for community collaboration between the public and private sector, faith-based communities and nonprofits," according to its website.
Hope Florida was months late in filing some of the paperwork required for its organizational status, but did so Thursday.
The House has been investigating $10 million given to the foundation from a $67 million Medicaid settlement with the state Agency for Health Care Administration in October.
According to reports, the foundation then made $5 million grants to Secure Florida's Future, a nonprofit tied to the Florida Chamber of Commerce, and the nonprofit organization Save our Society from Drugs.
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The groups received the grants while making contributions to Keep Florida Clean, a political committee headed by Uthmeier, who was DeSantis' chief of staff at the time. Keep Florida Clean was formed to fight against the failed Amendment 3 ballot measure that would have legalized recreational marijuana.
"The Hope Florida Foundation was defrauded when they were told by these two entities that they were not going to use this money for political purposes," Andrade said.
Andrade told Hudson that he's received text messages from Save our Society from Drugs that show Uthmeier "personally reached out to them and told them to ask for this money."
Andrade talked about how Uthmeier then connected the organization with Aaron, who allegedly told them how to use a letter as a template and then assisted in requesting the money from Hope Florida. The organization confirmed that it received a wire transfer and texted Aaron that the money was sent to Keep Florida Clean.
“So when (Uthmeier) received this money to his PAC, if he was acting above board and he was not acting in bad faith, he would have immediately raised his own alarms and red flags. He did not," Andrade said.
Uthmeier said he did nothing illegal and defended Hope Florida.
"Hope Florida didn't do anything wrong. I'm proud of the work they do," he wrote in a statement. "These other nonprofit organizations that have helped against the Amendment 3 effort. We should be thankful to them, to all of them."
Aaron has not returned a request for comment.
According to the Associated Press, DeSantis also defended Hope Florida's involvement with the donation and called the settlement "100% appropriate." He accused Republican House lawmakers of "grasping at straws" to reflect negatively on the settlement that he doesn't believe has anything to do with Hope Florida.
ALSO READ: DeSantis defends a $10 million donation from state agency settlement to charity linked to his wife
Central Florida Public Media also reported this week that the governor called the accusations about Hope Florida "baseless smears."
"Not only are they trying to sabotage that agenda," he said, "but they are stabbing the voters in the back with their behavior. Shame on you in the Florida House and your terrible behavior and leadership."
In general, DeSantis has been backing his wife — a potential candidate to replace him. However, Andrade said he doesn't believe the first lady had any involvement in this issue.
"I could not care less if Casey DeSantis wants to run for office. I don't see how she was personally involved in any of this," Andrade said. "It really is a pure coincidence that Casey wants to take credit for everything the Hope Florida Foundation has done. That's neither here nor there. To me, I don't see where she was involved directly."
Andrade does not believe that any criminal or civil charges should be made against the Hope Florida board of directors, as he believes they were defrauded.
Andrade added that if he were to pinpoint any "bad guys" in this situation, it would be Uthmeier and Aaron. He said he believes the board needs to take steps to try to recoup the grants that "were improperly distributed to two organizations that used that money for political purposes and gave that money to James Uthmeier's PAC."
Andrade sent a request for documents to receive more information on this case and anticipates having to subpoena the attorney general if he does not participate. Andrade believes this may happen before the end of the legislative session.
"Based on every piece of information that I have, I would be shocked if a law enforcement agency is not already investigating what occurred," Andrade told Hudson.
Andrade also told Hudson that he likes to believe that if DeSantis knew about Uthmeier's alleged actions, he would not have been appointed to replace Ashley Moody as attorney general in January. Moody was appointed to Marco Rubio's U.S. Senate seat after Rubio was named U.S. Secretary of State.
“I believe that if Gov. DeSantis wants to show Floridians that he doesn’t treat taxpayer dollars like his own personal piggy bank and doesn’t believe that he’s above the law and above the rules, he should [remove Uthmeier]. I don’t know if he will," Andrade said.
This story was compiled from interviews conducted by Tom Hudson for "The Florida Roundup."
