A Democratic Florida congresswoman stole $5 million in COVID-19 emergency relief money and spent it on her campaign, the Justice Department said Wednesday.
Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, 46, denied the allegations and promised to fight the case, though she was removed from her committee positions in the House of Representatives. She has represented Florida’s 20th District since 2022.
“Using disaster relief funds for self-enrichment is a particularly selfish, cynical crime,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a press release.
Cherfilus-McCormick was CEO of her family’s company, Trinity Healthcare Services, when it received a $5 million overpayment for a contract in 2021, according to federal investigators.
In a prior claim, Florida’s emergency management department said a “clerical error” led to Trinity receiving $5 million instead of $50,000. Cherfilus-McCormick and her company then refused to send the money back when requested, the feds said.
Instead, Cherfilus-McCormick funneled the money to various family members, who then donated it back to her congressional campaign in a “straw donor” scheme, the Justice Department claimed.
Cherfilus-McCormick won her 2022 special election to replace Rep. Alcee Hastings, who died in 2021, then won reelection later that year and ran unopposed in 2024.
“This is an unjust, baseless, sham indictment — and I am innocent,” the congresswoman told CBS News on Thursday.
With News Wire Services
