This post was written by Roger Stone and Troy Smith
Yet another scandal is embroiling the Governor of Florida Ron DeSantis and his wife Casey DeSantis. Once again, Florida’s first family has been caught selling access to their political offices and selling out the people of Florida.
Slingshot News can exclusively report that the Florida Freedom Fund, a 527 tax-exempt organization that is chaired by Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, is directly selling access to both Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Florida First Lady Casey DeSantis.
The organization has a stated mission of “promoting and supporting principled conservative causes and candidates in the State of Florida.” It was heavily utilized by DeSantis in the 2024 Election in order to stop Amendment Three, which would have legalized recreational marijuana in the state.
Uthmeier also chairs the organization Keep Florida Clean, which happens to be one of the recipients of the $10 Million illegally ordered to be paid to Casey DeSantis’ Hope Florida charity by the DeSantis Administration.
The Florida Attorney General’s fingerprints are all over the corruption of Florida’s First family. It’s worth noting that he served as DeSantis’ Chief of Staff prior to serving as Attorney General, a position he certainly is not qualified for.
DeSantis’ Selling Access To Themselves Directly Through Their Attorney General’s ‘Florida Freedom Fund’
Directly on the Florida Freedom Fund website there is a link to buy an appointment to meet with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, or First Lady Casey DeSantis… the choice is yours.
Guests are then asked to fill out a form with various questions about the gathering that they are paying for the First Family to attend.
The form also provides a space for those interested in paying for the meeting to disclose exactly what kind of event they would like for the First Family to come to, even offering a public speaking option.
The questionnaire also provides a space for patrons to list how many people they would like the First family to meet, and to disclose whether or not the event will be open to the media.
The Florida Freedom Fund transferred over $5.9 Million to the Republican Party of Florida during the 2024 Election alone.
The fund also spent nearly $200k on an extravagant donor retreat at Lake Oconee in Georgia, where supporters of the Governor rallied with him, plotting over their plans for the upcoming November election.
The Florida Freedom Fund also expended a tremendous amount of money, exactly $200k, to an entity called MHM Consulting LLC. That business is registered to an individual named Makenzi Mahler.
Mahler is a DeSantis fundraising consultant who has worked with his Administration on appointments for several years. In A Florida Atlantic article published in July of 2024, Mahler is described as having, “been a member of Team DeSantis since before he took office and served as the Governor’s appointments director for the first two years of his first term.”
As Slingshot News has discovered through our investigation, many individuals that have purchased access to the governor in the past have received favorable deals with the State of Florida, leaving the citizens of the state for broke.
Ron DeSantis OK’d Massive Utility Rate Increases After Accepting Money From Energy Executives For Golf Games
In 2019, the Tampa Bay Times revealed that DeSantis had charged Duke Energy Executives $100,000 to play golf with him. That meeting resulted in Duke making a $75,000 donation to the Republican Party of Florida.
In August 2024, the Florida Public Service Commission, whose members are appointed by the governor, approved a settlement allowing Duke Energy Florida to increase base electric rates by $203 million in 2025 and $59 million in 2026.
This settlement also permitted Duke to recoup costs for 12 new solar facilities, with projected increases of $12 million in 2025, $71 million in 2026, and $58 million in 2027.
Since 2019, DeSantis has accepted an additional $4 Million from various entities associated with Duke Energy.
In 2024 alone the average Floridian paid $157 more dollars per month for their electricity than any other State in America. Projections say that Floridians will pay more throughout 2025 into 2026, as prices that are already at a national high continue to skyrocket.
Floridians are expected to pay 22% more for their electricity over the next two years, all while their Governor accepts millions of dollars in donations from energy companies who abused his corrupt offerings to abuse access to the Governor’s office… all at the expense of the citizens.
Florida Freedom Fund Scandal Adds To ‘Hope Florida’ Scam, DeSantis Woes
It was first reported by Politico on April 10th that Ron DeSantis’ Administration had illegally negotiated, as part of a settlement involving Medicaid funds between the provider Centene and the State of Florida, a $10 Million donation to ‘Hope Florida,’ the 501c3 started by First Lady Casey DeSantis back in 2021.
Misallocated Medicaid funds that were negotiated to be paid to the taxpayers of the State of Florida were diverted to a charity owned and operated by the wife of the Governor of Florida. The Centene scandal became so large that the Florida House of Representatives held hearing in order to investigate the records of Casey DeSantis’ charity.
What they found was shocking, to say the least.
Hope Florida had not hired a single accountant to operate its finances until just weeks before the Florida House investigation into the entity on April 16th, 2025.
Hope Florida Director Joshua Hay admitted during the Legislature’s hearing that Hope Florida failed to file basic tax documentation, including its IRS 990 form required to legally accept donations in any of its years of operation. Hay told lawmakers in Tallahassee, “[There was a] misunderstanding on who was responsible for preparing the tax records for the non-profit.”
“In recent weeks, the public reporting has made evident that mistakes were made,” Hay added.
The IRS requires Form 990 to be filed by the 15th day of the 5th month after the organization’s fiscal year ends, and failure to file for three consecutive years can lead to automatic revocation of tax-exempt status.
After it received its $10 million payment as a result of the settlement negotiated by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Hope Florida dispersed two $5 million payments to two political action committees supporting the political causes championed by Ron DeSantis in the 2024 Election, namely his opposition of Amendment 3.
When questioned about these disbursements during the hearing today, Director Joshua Hay said, “The grant recommendations were made after my review with general counsel. There was no reason to believe anything was wrong with that proposal, no reason to doubt they were not aligned with Hope Florida’s mission.”
“I didn’t know who told the nonprofits to apply for those grants, but was assured by my general counsel, Jeff Aaron, that the requests were above board,” he added.
Keep Florida Clean, one of the organizations that received a $5 Million payout from Hope Florida is chaired by Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, highlighting yet another angle of corruption to this scandal.
It was revealed that Hope Florida does not have a headquarters or an actual place of operation.
Joshua Hay, the Hope Florida Foundation’s chair, testified today that the foundation had distributed “north of $10 million” in grants, as reported by the Orlando Sentinel. However, lawmakers challenged this, noting that campaign finance records and foundation documents showed only about $500,000 in smaller grants to individuals and organizations, excluding the two $5 million grants to Securing Florida’s Future and Save Our Society from Drugs, which totaled $10 million.
That scandal was later picked by such outlets as Slingshot News, NBC, The Tampa Bay Times, The Miami Herald, and hundreds of other outlets across the United States of America.
It has been speculated by political insiders on both the left and right that both Casey and Ron DeSantis may fall under investigation by federal authorities for their involvement in ‘Hope Florida’ and the horrific mismanagement of the organization.
