PENSACOLA, Fla. — The clash between Governor Ron DeSantis and a local lawmaker escalated Monday as Representative Alex Andrade tells WEAR News there’s evidence a high-ranking member of the governor’s cabinet committed money laundering and fraud.

The issue stems from a state Medicaid settlement where at least $10 million was diverted away from the state’s general revenue fund and into a non-profit led by First Lady Casey DeSantis.

Andrade is pointing the finger at Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier and an attorney for the Hope Florida Foundation.

Andrade says he’s now trying to figure out who else may be involved.

“At this point based on the information I have, I’m confident James Uthemeier committed money laundering and wire fraud,” Andrade said.

Andrade says state settlement funds first move into the state’s general revenue fund.

However, in the contract between healthcare giant Centene and the state of Florida, Centene agreed to donate $10 million of the settlement to Hope Florida.

Within days of the settlement, Andrade says Uthemeier — the governor’s then chief of staff — instructed two political action committees to each request $5 million from the Hope Florida Foundation.

Andrade says immediately after receiving the donations, the two PACs donated a total $10 million into James Uthmeier’s PAC “Keep Florida Clean” and used at least a portion of the funds to fight against the amendment to legalize recreational marijuana.

Andrade says the governor dismissed every question about the issue. Uthmeier has denied any wrongdoing.

In a statement last week, Uthemeier says there’s nothing illegal about the contract. He said in part, “Hope Florida didn’t do anything wrong. I’m proud of the work they do.”

“I haven’t spoken to any federal authorities, but at this point, I have a hard time believing federal authorities aren’t looking into it,” Andrade said.

“The reason I’m confident about this is James’ involvement in not only structuring the settlement to send the money to the foundation,” he added. “He immediately solicited people, got co-conspirators to ask for that money under false pretenses, got the money out of the account immediately and they immediately turned around and gave it to his PAC.”

While the current state of the Hope Florida Foundation is under fire, the organization with boots on the ground is working, according to a local hiring leader.

CareerSource Escarosa is one of many agencies across the state which employs a Hope navigator to help connect underserved people with local organizations.

It’s the purpose of Hope Florida to connect more individuals with more resources.

Dr. Marcus McBride says Hope Florida serves as a great resource for our locals.

“Those that are in Escambia, Santa Rosa County are definitely seeing the benefit,” he said, “when you talk about the number of success stories, to employment, the number that have completed training programs, the number that have received credentials.”

“I see the value of the Hope navigator for the organization,” he added.

Andrade says it’s unclear what the non-profit does different than similar programs.

He says in theory the foundation has a good purpose, but their financial missteps bring the entire operation in question.

“I still haven’t found the distinction there where they’ve done something special,” Andrade said. “Or distinct that government employees aren’t already doing what they’re supposed to do for those in need.”

“I’m more focused right now about this obvious misuse of taxpayer funds,” he added. “Whether Hope Florida can get its act together and do good things is a separate issue.”

The House healthcare budget subcommittee will meet again this Thursday to discuss the ongoing issue.