Florida Court Expunges Grand Jury Report on Medicaid Fund Allegations
A Florida state appeals court on Wednesday expunged a confidential grand jury report that accused members of Governor Ron DeSantis’s administration of a sophisticated scheme to misappropriate $10 million in taxpayer money from a Medicaid settlement for political purposes. The First District Court of Appeal ruled that the Leon County grand jury exceeded its legal authority and violated state disclosure laws when its 116-page presentment was leaked two months ago, according to court documents.
The Tech TL;DR:
- An appeals court threw out a grand jury presentment targeting state officials over a Medicaid settlement fund transfer.
- The court found the grand jury violated state law by releasing a confidential report without giving named parties a chance to seek expungement.
- State Attorney Jack Campbell’s office distributed the report to dozens of recipients before the leak to CBS News Miami.
Appeals Court Rejects Grand Jury Overreach
The First District Court of Appeal determined that the grand jury produced a report that declared conduct unlawful while declining to bring actual criminal charges. Appellate Judge Lance E. Neff wrote in the court’s opinion that a grand jury cannot condemn people by name without indicting them. Governor Ron DeSantis appointed Neff to the First DCA in March. The court also established that the $10 million in question was not public money, noting that the jury failed to prove the funds were misappropriated.
“A grand jury may investigate and report, but it may not declare conduct unlawful and then decline to charge it, and it may not condemn people by name without indicting them,” Appellate Judge Lance E. Neff wrote.
The Medicaid Settlement Fund Transfer
The legal battle centers on a $67 million settlement agreement with Centene Corp. over alleged Medicaid overbilling. State Rep. Alex Andrade, R-Pensacola, brought forward allegations during the 2025 legislative session regarding how $10 million of that settlement ended up financing a campaign against a statewide measure to legalize marijuana. State Attorney Jack Campbell convened the grand jury in August to investigate the allegations. Instead of an indictment, the January report featured a 19-page narrative and 97 pages of exhibits identifying high-ranking state officials.
The report named James Uthmeier, who served as DeSantis’s chief of staff during the negotiations, as directing the funds to two nonprofits that subsequently donated most of the money to a political committee he managed. Jason Weida, then secretary of the Agency for Health Care Administration, and agency attorney Andrew Sheeran also faced criticism in the report for their involvement in the negotiations. Attorney General Ashley Moody’s deputy chief attorney signed off on the agreement at her instruction, and the Hope Florida board lacked proper due diligence, according to the grand jury’s findings.
Campbell Distributes Confidential Grand Jury Report via Mass Emails
State law automatically keeps grand jury presentments confidential for 15 days to allow named individuals to seek expungement. However, after the report was issued, Campbell distributed it to at least 49 recipients across two mass emails. While the first set went to authorized parties, the second set included generic intake email addresses and an unintended recipient. In February, legal motions were filed to repress and expunge the report. James Uthmeier, who was among those criticized, appointed former First DCA Judge Brad Thomas as acting attorney general for the proceedings, while Chris Kise represented Uthmeier.
Leon County Circuit Judge J. Lee Marsh denied full expungement in July, redacting only the witness section, names, titles, and exhibits. On August 26, CBS News Miami published an unredacted copy of the report, prompting Campbell to withdraw his appeal. Jeremy Redfern, Deputy Chief of Staff for Uthmeier, called the outcome a rejection of a weaponized grand jury proceeding.