Posted on 05/01/2025 7:40:23 AM PDT by Miami Rebel
A Republican lawmaker shocked Florida’s political world when he accused representatives of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration of committing federal crimes by diverting $10 million from a Medicaid settlement to political activities last year. No one has been charged, and DeSantis administration officials have denied wrongdoing. But four former federal prosecutors told the Herald/Times that Rep. Alex Andrade could be on strong legal ground. At least eight different federal charges, from theft of government funds to money laundering, could be investigated related to the dollars that passed through the Hope Florida Foundation, they said. Those statutes could carry sentences of decades in prison. The former prosecutors said that anyone who misdirected Medicaid money could be ensnared. Whether the federal government will investigate is another question. The former federal prosecutors, who worked a collective 86 years for the Department of Justice, come from both sides of the political aisle and analyzed the saga for the Herald/Times. They include an ex-FBI agent who became an assistant U.S. attorney, a former leader of the department’s fraud section, a former head of narcotics for the Justice Department who helped craft the government’s money-laundering statutes and an ex-deputy chief of the department’s asset forfeiture and money laundering section.
....
The charity sent $5 million apiece to two nonprofits. The groups then contributed at least $8.5 million to a political committee that was led by DeSantis’ then-chief of staff James Uthmeier and opposed last year’s ballot initiative to legalize recreational marijuana. Uthmeier’s committee later sent $10.5 million to the Republican Party of Florida and $1.1 million to DeSantis’ political committee. DeSantis, Uthmeier and other state officials have said the $10 million was not Medicaid money, but a separate charitable donation by the company. Uthmeier is now Florida attorney general.
(Excerpt) Read more at miamiherald.com ...
This is criminal. The icing on the cake is that the political operative who facilitated this graft is now Florida's ATTORNEY GENERAL.
This is the same sort of political crappola that was used to smear LePen in France. By the same sort of scum — and their supporters.
I don’t know anything about LePen’s finances, but this is pretty straightforward larceny.
I’m breaking out the popcorn.
Meh.
“As part of that settlement, the state Agency for Health Care Administration received $57 million and directed Centene to send the other $10 million to the Hope Florida Foundation, a state-created charity that supports an initiative spearheaded by Casey DeSantis to get Floridians off government aid.”
The charity sent $5 million apiece to two nonprofits. The groups then contributed at least $8.5 million to a political committee that was led by DeSantis’ then-chief of staff James Uthmeier and opposed last year’s ballot initiative to legalize recreational marijuana. Uthmeier’s committee later sent $10.5 million to the Republican Party of Florida and $1.1 million to DeSantis’ political committee.”
Basically, they are ‘claiming’ that this was all Medicaid money and should have been given to ‘Medicaid’. The problem is that it’s a Medicaid ‘settlement’ with the state, so it’s not actually Medicaid money, it’s State of Florida money. Then the ‘State of Florida’ directed it to non-profits, which used the money to stop ‘recreational marijuana’. The non-profits also donated to PAC’s.
Here is the problem. Say a Judge says this is criminal, and I am not saying it’s not, then what are the Democrats nationwide going to do? Most of the money that has filled DNC coffers has been from Federal Government to NGO’s, and then zero oversight to Democratic candidates and PAC’s. See Joe Biden and Stacey Abrams story. Instead of ‘millions’ this has been in the ‘Billions’.
Me thinks that if it’s legal to do it on a Federal Scale in the Billions, then a few million on a State scale is nothing. Like watching someone doing 125 in a school zone and only stopping the person doing 17 miles per hour and giving them a ticket.
The ‘fix’ is to make it illegal for any NGO or ‘Non-profit’ to EVERY have the right to donate to political figures or committees either State or Federal money. However, as soon as you do that, the Democrats can’t afford to pay the rioters, Soros, or the Media off.
So you're saying that the anti desanctimonious people got desanctus to do the transfer of the $10 million to casey's charity....
Then got casey to somehow get it transfered out to 2 other organizations....
So that the desantis' could get media time defending themselves against corruption and say they did nothing wrong?
🤣
The problem is that it’s a Medicaid ‘settlement’ with the state, so it’s not actually Medicaid money, it’s State of Florida money. Then the ‘State of Florida’ directed it to non-profits, which used the money to stop ‘recreational marijuana’.
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