Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick was first elected to Congress in a special election in January 2022.Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call/Sipa USA
Posted on 11/20/2025 5:11:39 AM PST by Red Badger
The charges in the indictment against Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, D-Fla., carry a maximum of 53 years in prison, the Justice Department said.
Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, D-Fla., was indicted Wednesday on charges she stole and laundered $5 million in federal relief funds and used the money for her congressional campaign, the Justice Department said.
In a news release citing the indictment, the Justice Department said that Cherfilus-McCormick, 46, and Edwin Cherfilus, 51, her brother, worked on a staffing contract funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency for Covid vaccinations tied to their family health care company in 2021 and that the company was overpaid by $5 million in relief funds.
She and her brother are accused of conspiring to steal the overpayment and route it through various accounts to conceal its origins. Cherfilus-McCormick is alleged to have used the money for her own enrichment and to fund a significant part of her congressional campaign.
Cherfilus-McCormick won a special election in January 2022 to fill the seat of the late Democratic Rep. Alcee Hastings. She won 72.3% of the vote in that year's general election and was re-elected again last year, when she ran uncontested.
The Justice Department said Cherfilus-McCormick and another defendant, Nadege Leblanc, 46, also used straw donors to secure additional campaign contributions, funneling other disaster relief money from the FEMA-funded contract to friends and relatives who then made donations to the campaign as if they were contributing their own money.
Cherfilus-McCormick and a man who is alleged to have prepared her 2021 taxes are also charged with filing a false federal tax return for that year, according to the Justice Department.
Cherfilus-McCormick's congressional office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. She did not cast a vote in a series of roll call votes Wednesday night in the House.
Her legal team said in a statement that she "is a committed public servant, who is dedicated to her constituents. We will fight to clear her good name.”
Cherfilus-McCormick has been under investigation by the House Ethics Committee after it received a referral from the nonpartisan Office of Congressional Conduct, or OCC, that found “there is substantial reason to believe that Rep. Cherfilus-McCormick requested community project funding that would be directed to a for-profit entity.”
The OCC, formerly the Office of Congressional Ethics, referred Cherfilus-McCormick to the bipartisan Ethics Committee in May 2024.
The OCC is an independent, nonpartisan office that reviews allegations of misconduct against members and can refer matters to the Ethics Committee, a bipartisan panel of five lawmakers from each party.
Under House rules, the Ethics Committee was required to make the OCC report public in May 2025 because it had not concluded its own investigation. The report did not provide specifics about the community project funding or the for-profit entity.
Cherfilus-McCormick denied wrongdoing at the time, telling Politico in a statement that the committee's "referral for further review does not imply that any violation has occurred."
The Ethics Committee said in July that it had unanimously voted to re-authorize a subcommittee to probe allegations against Cherfilus-McCormick.
Attorney General Pam Bondi called Cherfilus-McCormick "selfish" in a statement about the federal charges.
“Using disaster relief funds for self-enrichment is a particularly selfish, cynical crime,” Bondi said. “No one is above the law, least of all powerful people who rob taxpayers for personal gain. We will follow the facts in this case and deliver justice."
A federal grand jury in Miami handed up the indictment, the Justice Department said.
Cherfilus-McCormick is not the only lawmaker to face an indictment this year.
Rep. LaMonica McIver, D-N.J., was indicted in June after she clashed with law enforcement officers in connection with the Trump administration's detention of undocumented immigrants. She pleaded not guilty to forcibly impeding and interfering with federal law enforcement officers at an ICE facility in her state.
Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick was first elected to Congress in a special election in January 2022.Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call/Sipa USA
Those crazy dems do have sticky fingers 😏
The black women are really cleaning up since whitey started electing them to government jobs with wide open access to taxpayer dollars. We’re going to have as many rich Oprahs and we do Lebron James “rock throwers”.
What are the odds she’s actually punished?
She better start recruiting RINO to vote not to indict. She can get a list of names from that worthless Virgin Islands delegate skank. Why does V.I. need a delegate anyway? That’s retarded.
ZERO. This will go away like a fart in the wind.
Now. everyone knows all about Sheila and her wicked. wicked ways! Will she Plea Bargain and start singing about the others? All in good time!
Show me a democrat and I’ll show you a crime.
And the House democrat party liners were SO IMMEDIATELY DEMANDING that the republican House Member from NY Long Island be censored, be removed from the house floor, be sent to jail even for making false claims while campaigning .. (er, Warren, CT Senator, Gov Walsh, ..etc)
She ila stole $5 million from US Americans and now we have to pay more for this POS to be incarcerated? When do we the people get our $5 million back from her network of criminals?
HOORAY individuals at Justice Department.
If convicted, all her property can be seized and sold at auction to recoup the missing $5 million..............
That would be as good start.
I predict she will be re-elected in 2026.
Beware da hyphenated wimmins!
Has she screamed “Racist Witch Hunt!” yet?
She will.
Resume enhancer
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