In short, only $57 million of a $67 million legal settlement Florida made with the Medicaid contractor Centene was considered “potential Medicaid-related damages to the State,” Agency for Health Care Administration General Counsel Andrew Sheeran wrote to lawmakers on Tuesday.

That meant that Centene could be directed to divert the remaining $10 million to the Hope Florida charity, Sheeran wrote. The charity was created by DeSantis’ administration to support the first lady’s Hope Florida initiative, which aims to get Floridians off government assistance, including Medicaid.

All of it is taxpayer money, according to Scott Newton, a former FBI agent and federal prosecutor with decades of experience investigating, prosecuting and defending healthcare fraud.

“The character, the very identity of the program’s funding never changes,” Newton said. “It is and remains the taxpayers’ money.”