While Gov. Ron DeSantis and First Lady Casey DeSantis were defending Hope Florida, the chairman of Save Our Society from Drugs (SOS), the nonprofit focused on preventing substance abuse that received $5 million from the Hope Florida Foundation, submitted his resignation from the organization’s board.
Bombshell
James Holton’s resignation letter stated that the SOS board had been completely unaware that the organization’s executive director, Amy Ronshausen, had accepted $5 million from the Hope Florida Foundation, which supports the First Lady’s Hope Florida program.
- Even more concerning, according to Holton, was that the board was also kept in the dark about the subsequent transfer of millions from these funds to a political committee actively fighting against a campaign to legalize recreational marijuana in Florida.
SOS and Secure Florida’s Future each received $5 million and then funneled $8.5 million to Keep Florida Clean, a political committee opposing Amendment 3, the 2024 ballot initiative to legalize recreational marijuana. Keep Florida Clean was overseen by James Uthmeier, then Governor DeSantis’ chief of staff and now Florida’s Attorney General.
Holton indicated he only learned about these significant financial transactions through news reports rather than proper board channels.
Calls for Thorough Investigation
“In light of this, I continue to believe that this situation begs a thorough investigation and audits by third parties on behalf of” Save Our Society from Drugs, Holton wrote in his resignation letter, obtained today by Inweekly. Read Holton Letter.
In his full letter, Holton expressed that he could not “in good conscience fail to follow a prudent and reasonable course of action” given the circumstances. He stressed the need for proper corporate responsibility and governance in handling the situation.
The $5 million grants received by Save Our Society from Drugs and Secure Florida’s Future were part of a larger $10 million donation to the Hope Florida Foundation from Centene Corporation, a Medicaid management company. This donation came from Centene’s $67 million settlement with the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) after being accused of overcharging for prescription drugs.
- Instead of directing these funds toward charitable work, the Hope Florida Foundation divided the $10 million between the two nonprofit organizations.
SOS Executive Suspended
Adding another layer to this complex situation, the Tampa Bay Times reports that Ronshausen was suspended as executive director at Save Our Society from Drugs on April 22, according to a whistleblower complaint she sent to Holton on May 7.
- In her complaint, she alleged that her suspension was retaliation for her communications with State Rep. Alex Andrade, whose House subcommittee investigated the issue, and her objections to hiring outside attorneys who had previously worked for Florida medical marijuana dispensaries.
Ronshausen refused to testify before Andrade’s committee and accused the lawmaker of pressuring her to release emails about the transaction, which Andrade has described as “money laundering.”
DeSantis Defends Settlement
As the controversy unfolded on Wednesday, Gov. DeSantis publicly defended the Hope Florida Foundation and its use of the settlement funds at a roundtable held in Brandon. He emphasized that all money has been used “to fulfill the Hope Florida mission.”
“It’s done through a board of directors. There are applications, but all the things that have been done, and I think the foundation has a 99% grant rate, 1% is overhead,” DeSantis stated. “When you talk about these things, it’s usually people who are somehow making money. No one’s made a penny off this thing. There’s no one that’s been employed or given anything. It’s all been done to grants to fulfill the mission.”
The Governor further claimed that much of the reporting on this issue has been “intentionally fraudulent and contrived,” specifically referencing publications that he says incorrectly characterized the source of the funds. “You had some of these publications saying that [Casey DeSantis] took money out of a Medicaid fund and didn’t know it was a private settlement. It was a settlement dollar private settlement,” he said.
DeSantis defended the Hope Florida initiative as one that has “changed people’s lives for the better” and argued that “the state needs to continue on this pathway” to “break down barriers and lift people up.”
Holton’s Decision to Resign
In his resignation letter, Holton explained that he believed it would be imprudent to reinstate Ronshausen “prior to the completion of a full forensic audit by a third-party auditor and completion of any possible investigation by law enforcement and the Florida House of Representatives.”
He worried a premature reinstatement could subject the organization, its board, and individual board members to “additional scrutiny by various governmental bodies” and potentially expose board members to “personal liability.”
After consulting with his attorney, Holton determined that resignation was “the best course of action for all concerned.”
Despite his departure under these challenging circumstances, Holton closed his letter by affirming his continued support for the organization’s mission of “advocating against the legalization and normalization of harmful drug use.” Read Holton Letter.
Andrade Responds
While Gov. DeSantis defended the Hope Florida Foundation at a Brandon roundtable this week, claiming it maintains a 99% grant rate with just 1% overhead, Rep. Andrade offered a drastically different assessment. According to Andrade, these favorable numbers only appear impressive because they include the $10 million he characterized as “Medicaid funds” that were “laundered through this charity.”
Andrade explained that when examining only the roughly $500,000 that actually went through normal board voting processes for issuing grants, the foundation’s overhead ratio jumps to about 20% – a figure he described as “not that great for a charity.”
Lack of Transparency
One of Andrade’s most serious allegations involves the secretive nature of the settlement itself. “We would’ve never even known about this settlement if we hadn’t gotten our hands on one set of minutes from the Hope Florida Foundation that vaguely referenced it,” Andrade stated. He pointed out that Florida was “the only state in the country not to put out a notice without putting out a press release about our settlement with Centene,” while “every other state was proud of their settlement.”
More troubling, according to Andrade, was that Florida was “the only state where the executive hid it from the legislature,” which he characterized as “blatantly glaringly inappropriate and illegal.”
He noted that state agencies are “refusing to produce” documentation related to communications about the settlement, including information about “who made the edits to the settlement agreement that at the last minute changed it to direct this money to the foundation.”
Andrade added: “I’ve never seen state agencies kind of huddle up and conspire to withhold information this aggressively.”
He also stated that officials haven’t provided the “day-to-day bank account statement from the foundation,” and DCF now refuses to produce documents for the legislature despite the foundation being “an arm of the state government agency.”
