The Hope Florida Foundation, a private charity tied to First Lady Casey DeSantis, held a board meeting Thursday in an attempt to restore confidence amid growing questions about its finances and ties to state government.
But the meeting was abruptly hijacked by hackers who flooded the video feed with pornographic images, racist symbols and vulgar language, intensifying scrutiny of a foundation that has already come under fire for its handling of public money.
“I’d like to call this meeting of the Hope Florida Foundation board to order,” said Joshua Hay, president of the organization.
The meeting had barely begun when the disruption occurred.
“I’m sorry for interrupting, but there’s some—,” a board member said before being cut off.
The feed was suddenly overtaken with pornographic images, racist symbols and slurs, and audio saying, “slam dunk a baby into the trash can.”
The meeting was suspended as the video abruptly ended.
The shocking hack marked a rocky return for the foundation, which has faced growing criticism over how it ended up with $10 million in public money, despite being a private charity.
Critics quickly seized on the hack as another sign the foundation lacks basic operational controls and cybersecurity protections.
Critics calling this another sign the Hope Florida Foundation lacks clear controls.
Earlier this week, the foundation was the focus of a Florida House committee hearing where lawmakers grilled leadership on transparency.
“I cannot confirm what the funds were used for,” Hay acknowledged. “No, we have no monitoring procedures. We have no staff.”
Lawmakers also raised concerns about whether taxpayer dollars had been funneled into political activities supporting Governor Ron DeSantis.
“From what I can tell, 80% of all funds that the foundation has ever received or dispensed found their way into a political committee, were used for political purposes,” said Andrade.
Despite the disruption, the board meeting reconvened later in the day. Foundation officials shared reconstructed tax returns and bank records that had not been previously made public.
However, many questions remained unanswered — including who approves the money distributed by the Hope Florida Foundation.
The Florida House committee is expected to continue its investigation next week.
Lawmakers have ordered the foundation to hand over records, financial documents and communications between foundation leadership and the governor’s staff, as well as any outside political operatives.
