State Attorney Monique Worrell said she is reviewing whether the disbursement of $10 million in Medicaid settlement funds through Hope Florida amounted to criminal activity.
“I am reviewing the information that’s out there and in the event that a crime is discovered, then we will move accordingly,” Worrell said, responding to reporters’ questions about Hope Florida at a press conference on an unrelated matter.
Hope Florida is a community-based welfare program that has been championed by First Lady of Florida Casey DeSantis.
[WATCH: How the Hope Florida Investigation began and why a grand jury report may have been leaked]
A leaked grand jury report obtained and published by CBS Miami in August revealed that grand jurors probed the funneling of $10 million from a settlement with a Medicaid contractor through Hope Florida, to organizations advocating for political causes.
The grand jury determined that the $10 million in question was “misappropriated.”
“We find that these funds were misappropriated as part of a sophisticated scheme to fund political activities,” the report stated.
Despite the finding that the funds were misappropriated, the grand jury said it had “insufficient evidence” to bring forth criminal charges.
“Nobody will take responsibility for deciding the $10 million of taxpayer money would go to Hope Florida,” the grand jury wrote. “This decision was the original misappropriation, and no witness would take responsibility for making the decision or had any memory of who made it.”
[POLITICALLY MOTIVATED: Here’s what the Hop Florida grand jury cost Floridians]
News 6’s Mike Valente asked Worrell about her jurisdictional authority in any potential case, considering that she is the state attorney for Orange and Osceola Counties.
“Well, as I’ve said, we know that the Amendment Three ads ran here and right now that’s the nexus,” Worrell said.
Worrell was referring to the ballot initiative to legalize recreational marijuana. The grand jury found that two organizations that received funds through Hope Florida then donated money to the political action committee of James Uthmeier — before he was state Attorney General — to campaign against Amendment Three.
Attorney General Uthmeier and his predecessor, current Senator Ashley Moody, are both mentioned in the grand jury report. They have both denied wrongdoing.