A Leon County grand jury concluded the DeSantis administration misappropriated $10 million owed to a children’s health program and that the money was moved “as part of a sophisticated scheme to fund political activities,” most of it into the committee fighting marijuana legalization. No one was charged: the grand jury said it lacked sufficient evidence, in part because no witness would take responsibility for the decision or identify who made it.
The money that helped defeat marijuana legalization in Florida came out of a settlement over the overbilling of the program that insures Florida’s low-income children.
That is the finding of a Leon County grand jury, in a report sealed since January 28 and obtained and published by CBS News Miami. The grand jurors concluded that the DeSantis administration “misappropriated” $10 million from a Medicaid overbilling settlement, and that the funds “were misappropriated as part of a sophisticated scheme to fund political activities.”
No one will be charged. The grand jury explained why in a single sentence that is now the center of the story.
“Nobody will take responsibility for deciding the $10 million of taxpayer money would go to Hope Florida… or had any memory of who made it.”
Leon County grand jury report, dated January 28, 2026
“While we can’t prove who is responsible,” the report continues, “we can plainly see that taxpayer money was misused for political purposes and we would like to see changes made to prevent this from happening again.”
High Times traced this money in April, from the settlement through two nonprofits and into the committee chaired by Ron DeSantis’s then chief of staff. The grand jury has now confirmed that route with sworn testimony and a forensic accountant, and added the parts we could not see: the rewrites, the timing, and the hurricanes.
Three Years …
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Author: Javier Hasse / High Times
