US Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick of Florida indicted on charges of stealing $5M in disaster funds

Federal prosecutors announced that U.S. Representative Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick of Florida has been formally indicted, accusing her of diverting $5 million in federal disaster-relief money and channeling part of those funds into her 2021 congressional campaign. The Justice Department alleges that the Democrat improperly obtained millions from the Federal Emergency Management Agency through her family’s health care company, which had been contracted to provide staffing for COVID-19 vaccination efforts during the height of the pandemic. According to the indictment, rather than returning FEMA overpayments the company received, she helped siphon the money and later routed a portion of it into her own political campaign through contributions linked to her candidacy.

Attorney General Pam Bondi condemned the alleged behavior, calling the misuse of disaster funds “selfish” and “cynical,” and stressing that public officials who enrich themselves with taxpayer money must be held accountable. Attempts to reach Cherfilus-McCormick’s office in Washington for comment were unsuccessful.

Cherfilus-McCormick entered Congress in early 2022 after winning a special election to fill the South Florida seat previously held by Alcee Hastings, who died in 2021. But questions regarding Trinity Healthcare Services — her family’s business, where she served as CEO — have been growing for more than a year. In late 2024, a state-level lawsuit filed by the Florida Division of Emergency Management alleged that Trinity overbilled the state by nearly $5.8 million for its work operating online registration systems tied to COVID-19 vaccine distribution. The agency said it only realized the scope of the problem after noticing a single $5 million overpayment and later determining that Trinity refused to return those funds.

Other federal watchdogs flagged the same pattern. A January report from the Office of Congressional Ethics revealed that Cherfilus-McCormick’s income for 2021 had skyrocketed, increasing by more than $6 million compared to the year before — an uptick driven largely by high consulting fees and profit distributions from Trinity. The disclosures prompted the House Ethics Committee to unanimously authorize a deeper inquiry in July, tasking an investigative panel with examining the allegations surrounding the congresswoman’s finances and the company’s federal work.

The new federal indictment adds another layer of scrutiny, placing the congresswoman at the center of a widening legal and ethical storm over the alleged misuse of taxpayer-funded emergency aid.

SOURCE: AP