The Department of Justice has charged Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-FL) with stealing $5 million in Federal Emergency Management Agency funds and laundering it, and using the proceeds for her 2021 congressional campaign.
A federal grand jury in Miami handed down the indictment. McCormick was first elected to Congress in 2022 in a special election after the death of Rep. Alcee Hastings. She then won general elections in 2022 and 2024.
Cherfilus-McCormick and her brother’s family healthcare company allegedly received a $5 million overpayment from FEMA in 2021 and hid the money through multiple accounts before rerouting a “substantial portion” of it to her congressional campaign.
She and co-conspirator Nadege Leblanc, 46, allegedly gave the illicit money to relatives who then donated to her campaign via a straw donor scheme.
Cherfilus-McCormick and her 2021 tax preparer, David K. Spencer, are also accused of conspiring to file a false federal tax return because they allegedly “falsely claimed political spending and other personal expenses as business deductions and inflated charitable contributions in order to reduce her tax obligations.”
Cherfilus-McCormick is the second House Democrat to be charged with a crime this year after Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-NJ) was charged with impeding federal officers in June.
Attorney General Pam Bondi, who is from Florida, condemned Cherfilus-McCormick’s actions.
“Using disaster relief funds for self-enrichment is a particularly selfish, cynical crime,” she said in a statement. “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.”
McCormick had been under the scrutiny of the House Ethics Committee after being referred by the Office of Congressional Ethics.
The Washington Examiner reported that the OCE recommended the Ethics Committee look into whether she requested community project funding for a for-profit entity, accepted campaign contributions linked to an official action, and whether her office either made payments to an entity or her campaign accepted and failed to report in-kind contributions
The DOJ said Cherfilus-McCormick faces up to 53 years in prison if convicted. Her brother, Edwin Cherfilus, faces up to 35 years, Spencer up to 33 years, and LeBlanc up to 10 years in prison.