As Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman campaigns for the U.S. Senate in Florida against Republican incumbent Ashley Moody, he has trained his fire on her past record as the state’s attorney general, specifically highlighting a high-profile controversy.
“BREAKING: Florida Senator Ashley Moody under FIRE for transferring $10 million in taxpayer money meant for children’s health care to a campaign fund,” Vindman, a Democratic candidate, posted on X on July 27.
Vindman’s statement followed a CBS News Miami investigation into Moody’s involvement in the 2024 “Hope Florida” controversy. That dispute centered on a maneuver by Governor Ron DeSantis’ administration to reroute $10 million from a Medicaid overbilling settlement into a charity led by the governor’s wife, Casey DeSantis. From there, the funds made their way to a political action committee (PAC) managed by James Uthmeier, who was then DeSantis’ chief of staff.
The PAC subsequently utilized the cash for political advertising and donations aimed at defeating Amendment 3, a ballot measure designed to legalize recreational marijuana in Florida.
The roots of the controversy stretch back to 2024, when Centene Corp.—Florida’s largest Medicaid managed care provider—agreed to a $67 million settlement following allegations that it had overbilled the state’s Medicaid prescription drug program.
At the time, Moody served as Florida’s attorney general, and her office signed off on the accord. The deal directed $10 million of the payout to the Hope Florida Foundation under Casey DeSantis, completely devoid of restrictions regarding its use. According to John Guard, Moody’s deputy attorney general at the time, Moody personally approved the agreement before it was finalized.
When asked for clarification, Vindman campaign spokesperson Albert Fujii reiterated that Moody’s deputy confirmed “multiple times that Moody expressly signed off on the deal.”
Conversely, Cameron Gambini, Moody’s campaign communications director, countered that the state’s Agency for Health Care Administration—rather than the attorney general’s office—negotiated and finalized the settlement terms.
Aubrey Jewett, a political science professor at the University of Central Florida, noted that while Moody may not have put pen to paper herself, ultimate accountability rests with her office. Centene’s legal team specifically insisted on the attorney general’s involvement because they were uneasy about the unusual structure of the deal and wanted legal protection, Jewett explained. As the state’s top legal officer, Moody had the authority to halt the agreement with an objection.
Legal analysts have also pointed out that Moody took no legal action once the funds ultimately surfaced in political committee accounts.
The Path of the $10 Million Medicaid Settlement
The Agency for Health Care Administration negotiated the terms with Centene, which included the provision for a $10 million donation to the Hope Florida Foundation—a nonprofit established in 2023 to support the broader Hope Florida welfare initiative launched by Casey DeSantis in 2021.
After receiving the payout in late September 2024, the agency transferred $10 million to the foundation. By October, the foundation disbursed $5 million each to two separate nonprofits.
Within days, those organizations funneled a combined $8.5 million to Uthmeier’s “Keep Florida Clean” PAC, which was established to fight the recreational marijuana initiative. The PAC subsequently distributed millions to the Republican Party of Florida and the Florida Freedom Fund, another DeSantis-aligned political committee also chaired by Uthmeier.
Under Florida law, Medicaid funds—which are primarily designated for the healthcare of low-income children, pregnant women, and individuals with disabilities—must be routed into specific state trust funds, with a designated share returned to the federal government.
While redirecting a portion of settlement funds to nonprofits dedicated to helping injured parties is not entirely unprecedented, experts say the Hope Florida Foundation’s situation was highly irregular. The group lacked a formal contract with the state healthcare agency, had no history of delivering Medicaid services, and failed to meet standard nonprofit reporting requirements.
Furthermore, state statutes dictate that when an agency directs settlement money to a nonprofit, those dollars are treated as public funds and require a formal written contract. Michael Morley, a law professor at Florida State University, noted that public funds can only be distributed to nonprofits if they serve a “clearly identified and concrete public purpose.” He suggested the vague language in the Centene settlement—stating the foundation serves goals important to state policy—likely falls short of that legal threshold.
Examining Moody’s Involvement
While Moody’s name appears on the finalized document, the exact scope of her personal direction remains somewhat obscured by available public records.
Documents obtained by the Tampa Bay Times and Miami Herald reveal that Centene’s attorneys specifically requested that Moody’s office or the state Inspector General be named in the settlement. Guard, her chief deputy, initially pushed to have references to her removed during drafting.
Amid ongoing political fallout, Florida Democrats have urged Moody to push for the release of a sealed grand jury report investigating how the settlement funds wound up in political committees. Gambini maintained that Moody had no personal hand in the grand jury proceedings and would welcome the public release of the findings.
The DeSantis administration has not contested that the $10 million was paid, but argues the money did not constitute public funds. In 2025, a spokesperson for the attorney general’s office—now led by Uthmeier—asserted that donations to Hope Florida fall outside the definition of state funds.
Moody’s campaign also highlighted a 2025 Politico report indicating that the $67 million settlement was more than triple the state’s actual financial loss from the overbilling. The administration contended that the $10 million represented a separate private donation from Centene, which wanted to avoid a stiffer financial penalty in Florida while handling negotiations in other jurisdictions.
However, Morley argued that the money remains public funds because the settlement explicitly linked the $10 million to Centene’s total obligation under the agency’s direction, rather than treating it as an isolated transaction.
Adding to the debate, state officials confirmed they reimbursed the federal government its standard share based on the full $67 million total (with federal funds covering roughly 57% of Florida’s Medicaid expenses), which legal scholars say undermines claims that the state’s recovery was actually $57 million.
Our Evaluation
Vindman asserted that Moody transferred “$10 million in taxpayer money meant for children’s health care to a campaign fund.”
The record shows that Moody’s office signed off on a settlement that directed Medicaid funds to a charity run by the governor’s wife, which quickly funneled the cash to PACs working to defeat ballot measures opposed by the governor.
While Moody failed to attach spending restrictions to the foundation’s money and took no legal action after the transfer to political committees, documentation does not show Moody or her office literally executing a transfer to a political fund themselves.
Because the statement captures the broader trajectory of the funds while omitting precise procedural steps, we rate this claim Half True.