The Hope Florida Foundation was supposed to be the kind of organization that would help Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ wife, Casey, build her resume for future political aspirations. It’s starting to look like it’ll sink them, instead. In the latest turn in the story of the charity-turned-trainwreck, a virtual board meeting for the DeSantis-backed organization was derailed by trolls who flooded the Zoom call with porn and Nazi symbols, according to a report from the Tallahassee Democrat.
The meeting of Hope Florida Foundation’s leadership was scheduled for the morning of April 17, but, per the Tallahassee Democrat’s account, was quickly interrupted because the members didn’t know how to prevent audience members from sharing their screens. That led to folks hanging in the crowd stealing the show, displaying all sorts of unwanted content. The meeting was paused, and a “technical difficulties – please stand by” message was displayed while the admins tried (and failed) to get a handle on things before ending the affair altogether. When they tried to restart the meeting, it failed because, according to a pop-up message seen by people trying to join the second attempt, “Host has another meeting in progress.”
So, about the “why” of that meeting, which did eventually happen six hours after its scheduled time, according to the Tampa Bay Times. The Hope Florida Foundation is in a bit of hot water. The organization, which was started by Casey DeSantis to reduce government spending on social welfare programs by replacing them with faith-based organizations and non-profits, is at the center of a probe over an allegedly illegal donation that is rapidly unraveling the board and even has Ron DeSantis trying to distance himself from his wife.
It all started with a suspicious $10 million donation made to Hope Florida, which came from Medicaid care operator Centene. That big check was part of a larger $67 million out-of-court settlement between the company and the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration. According to Politico, Centene was directed to put $10 million of that settlement directly in the coffers of Hope Florida Foundation, which may have amounted to an illegal transfer of funds that should have gone to the state.
That $10 million was allegedly used by Hope Florida to help two organizations—Save Our Society from Drugs and Secure Florida’s Future—with their efforts to defeat a ballot measure that would have legalized marijuana in the state, which ultimately failed to garner the 60% support needed to pass last November. Those donations from Hope Florida to the groups were reportedly encouraged by Governor DeSantis’ then-chief of staff James Uthmeier, and, according to the Tampa Bay Times, those two groups went on to make significant donations to the political action committee controlled by Uthmeier, who was named Florida attorney general earlier this year.
The web is already pretty tangled, and that’s just the start of it. Republican state representative Alex Andrade has accused Uthmeier and Hope Florida of engaging in fraud and money laundering, and they don’t seem to have any good answers for those accusations. In the initially hijacked meeting, Hope Florida president Joshua Hay admitted that he couldn’t account for the $10 million donation, nor what it was used for. “We have no monitoring procedures. We have no staff,” he said on the call.
The developing scandal appears like it might put an end to Casey DeSantis’ political ambitions before they even start, as it was expected that she would launch her own bid to become Governor of Florida in 2026 after her husband’s second term comes to an end. Now, Ron seems like he’s making sure that it’s only her career that is over. Earlier this week, when asked about the situation at Hope Florida, DeSantis took the opportunity to throw his wife under the bus and back it up just to make sure he hit her.
“I really had no ownership of this,” he told the media. “I didn’t devise it. She devised it. She set the vision. She executed the vision.” He did say that the organization has had “positive results,” but that seems like a cherry on top of a shit sundae that he served to her. Sure seems like he’s not interested in being the first man.
That said, being an alleged fraudster is anything but a career-ender in Florida. Republican Rick Scott was the CEO of a company that was hit with the biggest fine ever for Medicare and Medicaid fraud, and he managed to win not just two terms as Florida’s governor but is still representing the state in the US Senate. There’s not much that is truly disqualifying down there.
