In re: Leon County Grand Jury Presentment, Fall of 2025
A Leon County grand jury issued a 116-page presentment declaring that a $10 million third-party payment from the Centene Medicaid settlement to the Hope Florida Foundation was 'misappropriated' as part of a 'sophisticated scheme,' naming individuals but returning no indictment. The First DCA held the presentment was both 'improper' (its legal conclusion misapplied sections 45.062 and 216.216, which reach only court actions/settlements and state-received funds) and 'unlawful' (it condemned unindicted persons, including private 501(c)(4) recipients), and that the State Attorney's premature mass-email distribution to non-'individuals concerned' independently violated section 905.28(1). The court reversed and directed full expungement, and reversed orders requiring notification of media intervenors.
Key facts
- A Leon County grand jury issued a 116-page presentment declaring that a $10 million third-party payment from the Centene Medicaid settlement to the Hope Florida Foundation was 'misappropriated' as part of a 'sophisticated scheme,' naming individuals but returning no indictment.
- The grand jury's presentment contained legal conclusions that the payments violated Florida Statutes sections 45.062 and 216.216, which govern only court actions, court settlements, and state-received funds.
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Why it matters
This is the most thorough recent Florida appellate treatment of section 905.28 and the limits on grand jury reports, and it supplies a usable framework distinguishing reviewable legal conclusions from unreviewable… — full analysis with a trial
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