Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick’s (D-FL) political future will be at play in a rare public ethics hearing on Thursday, after she was accused of carrying out a multimillion-dollar laundering scheme involving Federal Emergency Management Agency funds.
The House Ethics Committee is considering the case this week. Members will determine whether accusations that Cherfilus-McCormick stole $5 million in FEMA funds, funneling a portion of them to her campaign account, could warrant her expulsion from Congress.
What is Cherfilus-McCormick charged with?
In November 2025, the Justice Department charged the congresswoman with stealing $5 million in FEMA funds and rerouting much of the proceeds to fund her 2021 congressional campaign, which marked her first successful bid for election to the House. Her brother, former chief of staff and accountant Edwin Cherfilus, was also charged in the alleged scheme.
The development came after a Florida state agency mistakenly paid out the money in 2021 to Cherfilus-McCormick’s family company, and the congresswoman failed to return the funding, according to the indictment.
Florida’s Division of Emergency Management loaned money to South Florida’s Trinity Health Care Services to register people for COVID-19 vaccinations. Prosecutors said that instead of returning the payment, Cherfilus-McCormick and her family moved the funds to other bank accounts “to disguise its source” and funneled money to friends and relatives, who then donated it back to her campaign, through illegal straw donations.
What has Cherfilus-McCormick said?
Cherfilus-McCormick represents a heavily Democratic district in southeastern Florida. Aside from being charged with funneling the stolen FEMA funds back to her campaign account, the congresswoman has been accused of spending the disaster relief funds on a $109,000 diamond ring. The accusations led Cherfilus-McCormick to step down from her position as the top House Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa.
Cherfilus-McCormick has maintained she is innocent of all charges and suggested the case built against her is politically motivated. She pleaded not guilty in February. If convicted, the Florida lawmaker faces up to 53 years in prison.
“This is an unjust, baseless, sham indictment — and I am innocent,” she said in a statement responding to the federal grand jury’s November indictment. “The timing alone is curious and clearly meant to distract from far more pressing national issues. From day one, I have fully cooperated with every lawful request, and I will continue to do so until this matter is resolved.”
Earlier this week, the lawmaker rebuked the committee for declining her request to delay the hearing, arguing it denied her legal team a “reasonable time to prepare.”
“That raises serious concerns about due process and the fundamental rights every American is entitled to under our Constitution,” Cherfilus-McCormick said.
What was Florida’s response to the allegations?
Florida sued over the matter in January 2025, seeking to reclaim damages, interest, attorneys’ fees, costs, and other relief from Cherfilus-McCormick’s company.
“Trinity took advantage of the state of emergency the entire country was encountering due to the COVID-19 pandemic and knowingly processed an invoice more than 100 times its typical invoice size,” the state’s lawsuit reads.
What has the House Ethics Committee done?
The House Ethics Committee hearing on the allegations on Thursday marks the first such trial it has held since 2010. Following the hearing, the committee could recommend a punishment for Cherfilus-McCormick, such as fines, censure, or expulsion from Congress.
During the hearing, Ethics Committee counsels will present evidence that comes from the panel’s yearslong investigation into Cherfilus-McCormick, which was released in January. At the time, the bipartisan committee concluded Cherfilus-McCormick committed 27 counts of ethics violations and determined there was “substantial evidence” that she committed the crimes detailed in the federal charges. Committee members came to the determination after reviewing the case since 2023, meeting a dozen times, reviewing over 33,000 documents, and issuing dozens of subpoenas, according to the panel.
The panel’s report also found that Cherfilus-McCormick’s campaign illegally accepted more than $800,000 from a Haitian oil company in 2022 and funded her reelection campaign largely through outside groups run by her friends and family, including the company that was mostly funded by the Haitian government. During her time in office, the congresswoman inappropriately used her position to benefit allies with special favors during the appropriations process, investigators alleged.
How have Democrats responded?
Leading Democrats, such as House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), have urged a “presumption of innocence” as the case plays out.
“We believe that Rep. Cherfilus-McCormick has an opportunity to defend herself both from the allegations here under the dome as well as those in a courtroom,” Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-CA), the House Democratic Caucus chairman, told the Hill. “After the conclusion of those, we will see what happens.”
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Several House Democrats have said they would support Cherfilus-McCormick’s expulsion depending on how the hearing goes, according to Axios.
“If the Ethics panel’s decision appears to be based on the evidence, and she’s found culpable for this misuse of campaign dollars, I won’t hesitate to call for resignation,” one said, with another lawmaker predicting “a lot” of Democrats will call for Cherfilus-McCormick to resign if she is found guilty by the panel.