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MIAMI (AP) — U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick of Florida has been indicted on expenses accusing her of stealing $5 million in federal catastrophe funds and utilizing a few of the cash to help her 2021 marketing campaign, the Justice Division mentioned Wednesday.
The Democrat is accused of stealing Federal Emergency Administration Company overpayments that her household well being care firm had acquired via a federally funded COVID-19 vaccination staffing contract, federal prosecutors mentioned. A portion of the cash was then funneled to help her marketing campaign via candidate contributions, prosecutors allege.
“Utilizing catastrophe reduction funds for self-enrichment is a very egocentric, cynical crime,” Lawyer Basic Pam Bondi mentioned in a press release. “Nobody is above the legislation, least of all highly effective individuals who rob taxpayers for private achieve. We are going to comply with the details on this case and ship justice.”
A cellphone message left at Cherfilus-McCormick’s Washington workplace was not instantly returned.
Cherfilus-McCormick was first elected to Congress in 2022 within the twentieth District, representing elements of Broward and Palm Seashore counties, in a particular election after Rep. Alcee Hastings died in 2021.
In December 2024, a Florida state company sued an organization owned by Cherfilus-McCormick’s household, saying it overcharged the state by practically $5.8 million for work achieved in the course of the pandemic and wouldn’t give the cash again.
The Florida Division of Emergency Administration mentioned it made a sequence of overpayments to Trinity Healthcare Companies after hiring it in 2021 to register folks for COVID-19 vaccinations. The company says it found the issue after a single $5 million overpayment drew consideration.
Cherfilus-McCormick was the CEO of Trinity on the time.
The Workplace of Congressional Ethics mentioned in a January report that Cherfilus-McCormick’s revenue in 2021 was greater than $6 million greater than in 2020, pushed by practically $5.75 million in consulting and profit-sharing charges acquired from Trinity Healthcare Companies.
In July, the Home Ethics Committee unanimously voted to reauthorize an investigative subcommittee to look at allegations involving Cherfilus-McCormick.
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