When Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier met with reporters in Tampa Tuesday, he wanted to focus on a lawsuit the state was filing against social media app, Snapchat.
Instead, he ended up having to reaffirm his position about the investigation into Hope Florida and his role in channeling $10 million in state funds to political action committees.
"I was not involved in the settlement negotiations related to the Hope Florida contribution, and looking at it, everything seems legal," Uthmeier told the press. "The attorneys, they looked at it and they negotiated it. I assume both the state and Centene were involved."
Centene Corporation, the state's largest Medicaid contractor, and the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration reached a $67 million settlement last fall.
That's the amount that Centene overbilled taxpayers for medical services, and was supposed to be returned to state or federal bodies. But $10 million of it went to Florida First Lady Casey DeSantis' non-profit organization, the Hope Florida Foundation.
ALSO READ: Rep. Andrade accuses Florida AG Uthmeier of money laundering, wire fraud amid Hope Florida probe
Subsequent transactions are alleged to have ended up channeling money from the Foundation to Uthmeier's political action committee, Keep Florida Clean, which lobbied against legalizing recreational marijuana.
Despite Gov. Ron DeSantis' insistence that Hope Florida's $10 million donation was coming from Centene, the Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald reported Tuesday that state and federal taxpayer dollars were used.
Uthmeier targets Andrade
"There's this representative that's on this tirade, he seems to be somebody doing the bidding of 'big marijuana'," Uthmeier said Tuesday of state Rep. Alex Andrade (R-Pensacola), who has been leading the investigation into Hope Florida and the funds.
Uthmeier has repeatedly claimed that Andrade is acting on behalf of the state's largest medical marijuana company, Trulieve.
Andrade told The Florida Roundup last week that he believed Medicaid dollars were laundered and misused.
According to reports, after the Hope Florida Foundation received the $10 million, it 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.
Andrade said Uthmeier allegedly instructed those groups to request the funding, which they then sent on to Keep Florida Clean.
"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 last week.
ALSO READ: Hope Florida Foundation approves changes amid House scrutiny
But Uthmeier disagreed Tuesday.
"I feel good about what we did. At the end of the day, nonprofits... can absolutely support issue committees," Uthmeier said. "I think the media misunderstands the difference between issue committees and political committees."
The Florida Division of Elections only defines political committees, which is the designation Keep Florida Clean has.
Under Internal Revenue Service designations, 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) organizations are non-profits that receive federal tax exemptions. 501(c)(3) entities are not allowed to engage in or donate to political organizations or campaign activities, according to Ballotpedia.
The state's lawsuit against Snapchat
After taking two questions from reporters on the investigation, Uthmeier declined further comment on what he called "the political narrative."
Instead, he pivoted back to the intended subject of the news conference: the state's measures to protect minors from online predators.
Uthmeier said the suit against Snapchat, filed on Monday, is "just the start" for Florida's crackdown on social media.
Snapchat has certain features that make it especially dangerous to young users, Uthmeier claimed, such as not being able to see an image that you've been sent before opening it.
He urged parents to stay vigilant and take an active role in inspecting their children's phones.
"Kids are reacting and changing in very dangerous ways when they spend hours and hours on these platforms that are designed to be addictive," he said.
The state also began an investigation into online gaming platform Roblox last week, "demanding information about how the platform markets to children, sets age-verification requirements, and moderates chat rooms."
Uthmeier said he hopes to continue the momentum of House Bill 3, a 2024 law that strengthens protections and requirements for minors using social media.
The law, considered to be one of the strictest in the nation, bans children under 14 from opening social media accounts, and requires 14- and 15-year-olds to get consent from a parent or guardian.
Legal challenges to the law continue to wind through courts, with a federal judge last month denying a request by industry groups to block the ban.
Copyright 2025 WUSF 89.7
