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Florida’s First District Court of Appeal has ordered the entire Hope Florida grand jury presentment expunged, ruling the grand jury exceeded its authority when it accused people of participating in a “sophisticated scheme” to misappropriate $10 million without indicting anyone. The court also concluded the money was never public money and found the confidential report was improperly distributed.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A Florida appeals court Wednesday delivered a sweeping legal victory to officials targeted in the Hope Florida investigation, ordering the controversial grand jury report expunged in its entirety and rejecting its central legal conclusion that $10 million was “misappropriated.”
The ruling prompted an immediate celebration from Jeremy Redfern, deputy chief of staff to Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, who posted on his X account:
“COMPLETE AND TOTAL VICTORY! The Hope Florida Hoax grand jury presentment was completely expunged by Florida’s 1st DCA.”
Redfern went further, characterizing the investigation as politically motivated.
“Long story short… The Democrat State Attorney’s weaponized grand jury was thrown out.”
That is Redfern’s characterization of the case. The First District Court of Appeal did not describe the grand jury as “weaponized” or make a finding that it was politically motivated.
But the court did sharply criticize what the grand jury did.
Court: Grand jury crossed the line
The Leon County grand jury investigated a $10 million payment arising from Florida’s $67 million pre-suit Medicaid settlement with Centene.
It ultimately declared the money “misappropriated” as part of a “sophisticated scheme to fund political activities” — but returned no indictments, saying it lacked sufficient evidence to criminally charge anyone.
The appeals court ruled a grand jury cannot have it both ways.
“A grand jury may investigate and report, but it may not declare conduct unlawful and then decline to charge it,” Judge Adam Neff wrote for the majority.
Redfern highlighted another passage from the decision:
“The Presentment’s naming and condemnation of individuals independently exceeded the grand jury’s authority.”
The court said Florida law draws a sharp line when a grand jury alleges criminal-like conduct: If the evidence establishes criminal wrongdoing, indict. If it does not, the grand jury cannot use a report to condemn people it chose not to charge.
Court: The $10 million ‘was never public money’
The ruling also strikes directly at one of the biggest claims surrounding the controversy.
The appeals court concluded the $10 million was never public money.
Centene’s roughly $67 million settlement included about $57 million paid to Florida and a separate $10 million payment directly to the Hope Florida Foundation.
The court said the $10 million neither reimbursed Florida for Centene’s alleged Medicaid overcharges nor became property of the state.
“The money neither reimbursed the State for losses from Centene’s overcharges nor ever became the property of the State of Florida,” the opinion states.
The court also noted Florida attorneys general executed 107 settlements involving third-party payments between 1996 and 2020.
Laws cited by grand jury didn’t apply, court says
The grand jury relied on two Florida statutes in concluding the payment had been misappropriated.
The appeals court found those statutes did not support that conclusion.
The Centene matter was settled before a civil lawsuit was ever filed, meaning provisions governing civil actions and court settlements did not apply as the grand jury asserted.
Another provision applied to money received by Florida — but the $10 million went directly from Centene to Hope Florida.
“The money was never expended or received by the State,” the court wrote.
Court finds $800,000 problem with grand jury’s math
The opinion also identifies a striking discrepancy in the grand jury’s accounting.
The presentment claimed Florida failed to recover $800,000 from Centene.
The appeals court said the settlement documents show essentially the opposite.
The components identified as reimbursement for alleged Medicaid overcharges totaled roughly $56.25 million, while Florida received approximately $57.05 million.
That means the state received approximately $800,000 more, rather than $800,000 less, than the figure the grand jury treated as the state’s full recovery.
The court said it wasn’t making a new factual finding but cited the discrepancy as an example of conclusions that could not be reconciled with the presentment’s own record.
Its criticism was unusually pointed, describing the document as “careless in its grammar, mistaken in its law, and unfaithful to its own record.”
Secret report improperly distributed
The court found another, independent reason to erase the report.
Florida law required the presentment to remain confidential while people criticized in it had an opportunity to challenge its release.
Instead, the ruling claims State Attorney Jack Campbell’s office distributed the document through two mass emails to at least 49 recipients, including some people the appeals court determined were not entitled to receive it.
The court called it an “over-broad handling of a confidential document” that violated Florida’s statutory protections.
An unredacted copy later reached the media and generated widespread coverage of the grand jury’s accusations.
All 116 pages must go
A lower court had already ordered approximately 112 of the 116 pages repressed or expunged.
The First DCA went the rest of the way.
It ordered the entire document expunged, finding that removing the legally improper conclusions and accusations would leave a report fundamentally different from the one the grand jury produced.
One judge agreed with expunging the entire report but would have based that decision solely on its improper disclosure rather than addressing the merits of the grand jury’s conclusions.
The ruling does not erase the historical fact that the grand jury investigated the transaction, nor does it prohibit separate investigations. The controversy had generated legislative scrutiny and extensive public debate well before Wednesday’s decision.
But it does deliver a sweeping rejection of this grand jury presentment.
The report said $10 million had been misappropriated in a sophisticated political scheme.
The appeals court says the statutes cited didn’t prohibit the transaction, the money was never “public” money, people were improperly condemned without indictment and the confidential report itself was improperly distributed.
The court’s remedy: expunge all 116 pages.
The Oct. 7 decision is not yet final until any timely authorized motions for rehearing or related review are resolved.
HOPE FLORIDA Opinion_2026-2435PDF preview
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