Former South Florida Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, her brother and business associates are facing more troubles with the federal government.
The investigative arms of the Department of Homeland Security and Federal Emergency Management Agency announced Friday that Cherfilus-McCormick, along with her brothers, Edwin Cherfilus, and "multiple associates and affiliated entities" have been indefinitely suspended from doing business with the federal agencies.
The decision by the DHS Office of the General Counsel and the FEMA Office of Chief Counsel stems from a federal indictment filed last November alleging they misappropriated $5.7 million in disaster funds and used the proceeds for personal enrichment and illegal campaign contributions.
FEMA have provided disaster funding to state officials in Florida through the Public Assistance program to support the state-led COVID-19 vaccination efforts.
“Former Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick abused Americans’ trust in the most egregious way possible. She manipulated the COVID-19 crisis to funnel over $5 million dollars of FEMA relief funds to her and her family members,” said James Percival, DHS General Counsel. “This is outright fraud."
"That’s exactly what a federal grand jury and the U.S. House of Representatives found. I am proud that my office is taking the first step to ensure she is held accountable and American taxpayers’ money is protected from further misuse,” Percival said in a statement.
Cherfilus-McCormick, D-Miramar, resigned from Congress last month rather than be formally disciplined by the House as part of an ethics investigation into her use of campaign funds. She maintains her innocence and has filed to run for re-election in Florida's 20th congressional district in South Florida.
READ MORE: South Florida Democratic Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick resigns amid ethics investigation
Members of the House Ethics Committee reported she committed 25 violations of House rules and ethical standards, including breaking campaign finance laws.
She is also facing federal criminal charges accusing her of stealing the $5 million in coronavirus disaster relief funds and using the money to buy items such as a 3-carat yellow diamond ring. Cherfilus-McCormick has pleaded not guilty to the criminal charges and says she was not guilty of ethics violations, either.
The allegations against the congresswoman center on how she received millions of dollars from her family’s health care business after Florida mistakenly overpaid the business by roughly $5 million with COVID-19 disaster relief funds. She is accused of using that money to fund her 2022 congressional campaign through a network of businesses and family members.
Cherfilus-McCormick’s brother, former chief of staff and accountant were also charged in the alleged scheme.
The federal indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Miami last November accused her and several co-defendants of conspiring to steal the $5 million in overpayments to her family’s health care company, Trinity Healthcare Services, under a 2021 contract to register people for COVID-19 vaccinations.
Prosecutors say the funds were distributed to various accounts, including to friends and relatives who in turn donated to the campaign that got her elected to Congress. A “substantial portion” of the misappropriated funds were used for the campaign or for the “personal benefit” of Cherfilus-McCormick and others accused, prosecutors claim.
Cherfilus-McCormick was charged with theft of government funds; making and receiving straw donor contributions; aiding and assisting a false and fraudulent statement on a tax return; and money laundering, as well as conspiracy charges associated with each of those counts.
Cherfilus-McCormick won a special election in January 2022 to represent Florida’s 20th District in parts of Broward and Palm Beach counties after Rep. Alcee Hastings died in 2021.
