Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis defends $10 million donation to charity as part of a 'good deal'

Lawrence Mower, Tampa Bay Times on Apr 10, 2025

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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Gov. Ron DeSantis defended state officials who steered a $10 million donation to a charity created to fund Hope Florida, a key initiative of the first lady, and attacked Republican lawmakers who have raised questions about the deal.

During a Miami news conference Thursday, DeSantis said the settlement with the state’s largest Medicaid contractor was “100% appropriate.”

“They negotiated a very good deal, and it served the state very, very well,” DeSantis said.

The donation was to the Hope Florida Foundation, a state-created charity overseen by Casey DeSantis that pays churches and nonprofits to help move people off of government services.

The $10 million was included in a $67 million settlement with the health care giant Centene. The settlement was reached after the company told the state that one of its subsidiaries had overbilled the state, agency officials told a House committee on Wednesday.

Centene could have made the contribution separately to the charity. But the fact that it was included in a negotiated settlement may run afoul of a state law requiring the money be deposited in a trust fund or the state’s general revenue fund, where lawmakers can oversee it.

House Speaker Daniel Perez, R-Miami, said Wednesday that the transaction “looks as though it could be illegal.”

Agency officials — including a top official in former Attorney General Ashley Moody’s office — signed off on the deal.

DeSantis implied that Centene donated because they liked the Hope Florida program.

“When you do settlements, you can try to get as much money as you can, but this was in addition to what they were getting,” DeSantis said.

“This is kind of like a cherry on top, where they agreed to make an additional contribution.”

Had the state chosen to sue Centene instead, it might not have been successful, DeSantis said.

“It was not a clear-cut case that we were guaranteed to win, and certainly not guaranteed to win that much money,” DeSantis said.

He said the settlement “has nothing to do with Hope Florida.”

Questions about the Hope Florida program, and the foundation supporting it, have swirled for years.

Launched by Casey DeSantis in 2021, the program is sprawled across at least half a dozen state agencies. DeSantis said it has helped 30,000 Floridians stop relying on government services, but the program has released no detailed metrics about its performance.

The foundation is a registered nonprofit with the IRS. But it hasn’t filed its tax returns and has never disclosed its donors or recipients.

The charity also hasn’t complied with any of the provisions in state law governing its oversight, ethics or fundraising, a House committee determined last week.

Perez said that lawmakers were asking basic questions about the $10 million donation.

“How was the money received? Where did it go? How was it used? And why?” he said Wednesday.

DeSantis on Thursday lashed out at House Republicans who have raised questions about the Hope Florida Foundation, calling them “liberal legislators.”

“These Republicans in the leadership office, you know, they’re working, hat in hand, with the Miami Herald and the Tampa Bay Times, very liberal media outlets,” DeSantis said.

“Is that what Republicans do? Work with the Miami Herald?”