House Ethics report details 27 counts against Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick

The House Ethics Committee has issued a report detailing 27 counts against U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick.

The report results from a two-year investigation, and leaders of the bipartisan committee will now consider potential consequences in the House for the Miramar Democrat.

A report details evidence that Trinity Health Care Services, a public health company founded by Cherfilus-McCormick, collected nearly $5.8 million in overpayments from the state of Florida and funneled millions into her 2022 congressional campaign.

For her part, Cherfilus-McCormick immediately characterized the House Ethics Committee’s acceleration of the investigation as unfair.

“Today’s action was taken without giving me a fair opportunity to rebut or defend myself due to the constraints of an ongoing legal process,” she said. “I reject these allegations and remain confident the full facts will make clear I did nothing wrong. Until then, my focus remains where it belongs: delivering for my constituents and continuing the work they sent me to Washington to do.”

The Justice Department in November indicted Cherfilus-McCormick on charges she used upward of $5 million in COVID vaccine distribution funding for personal spending, including bankrolling her campaign. The 47-year-old faces up to 53 years in federal prison if found guilty of those charges.

But the House Ethics Committee in January 2024 launched its own independent investigation of Cherfilus-McCormick for breaking campaign finance laws and other House regulations.

Those now go to an adjudicating committee headed by the House Ethics Committee’s top Republican, U.S. Rep. Michael Guest of Mississippi, and Democrat, U.S. Rep. Mark DeSaulnier of California.

The report issued Thursday by the committee details 27 counts, dating back to financial irregularities in financial reporting by Cherfilus-McCormick’s 2018 and 2020 failed runs for Congress. In those cycles, she challenged the late U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings in Democratic Primaries.

But the most serious charges stem from the handling of a payment from Florida’s Department of Emergency Management during the pandemic. Trinity over the course of 2021 accepted $5,778,316 in overpayments from the state, most of that stemming from a $5 million overpayment on an invoice for $50,578, according to the report. The state sued Cherfilus-McCormick for the overpayments in December 2024.

In total, the state paid Trinity almost $14.4 million over the course of a state contract, most of which was legitimate, the report shows. Trinity paid several other companies affiliated with Cherfilus-McCormick and her husband.

Meanwhile, Cherfilus-McCormick in 2021 filed for a Special Election following Hastings’ death and reported more than $6.2 million in self-funding to her federal campaign account. The Ethics report says that money came over 105 separate transactions, and that the campaign utilized four separate accounts. The report said a comparison with Trinity financial activity shows payments made out from the company were tied chronologically to payments received by the campaign.

“Nearly every substantial transaction paid to the campaign, or for the benefit of the campaign, from Respondent’s bank accounts was preceded by a transaction from Trinity providing funds to that account,” the report states. “For example, Trinity wired $2,000,000.00 to Respondent’s personal account at Financial Institution 2 on June 23, 2021, and Respondent transferred $2,000,000.00 to the campaign committee the next day.”

Additionally, the campaign finance reports did not accurately reflect the money in actual accounts, the report states. Over the course of the Special Election campaign, the report says Cherfilus-McCormick’s campaign did not report to the Federal Election Commission more than $1 million in payments from accounts controlled by the candidate.

The Ethics report asserts Cherfilus-McCormick failed to follow federal laws and engaged in conduct that reflected poorly on the credibility of the U.S. House by failing to properly report loans or accurately reveal the source of funds. It also asserts she comingled her campaign and personal funds.

Most seriously, the report includes counts of money laundering through Trinity and other entities.

The report says Cherfilus-McCormick showed a lack of candor and diligence with investigators.

The Congresswoman initially produced more than 2,600 documents in cooperation with the investigation. But the day of a scheduled interview, Cherfilus-McCormick pulled out and said she was not available. She ultimately invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination not to testify in the investigation.

“The conduct of Respondent and those acting on her behalf led to repeated delays of the ISC’s investigation of the allegations involving her,” the report said.

“Respondent’s lack of candor and diligence in connection with the investigations of the Committee and ISC as a whole does not reflect creditably on the House.”

Elijah Manley, a Democrat challenging Cherfilus-McCormick this year, said the report verified the Congresswoman’s unworthiness to serve.

“Today, the House Ethics Committee confirmed what we all know to be true: Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick violated federal campaign finance laws and engaged in gross violations of federal law,” Manley said. “It is time for the Congresswoman to resign from this seat before she is expelled from Congress.”