WASHINGTON — On Thursday, from Washington, D.C., U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick told Local 10 News This Week In South Florida Anchor Glenna Milberg that she is the victim of Republicans’ smear campaign.
The Florida congresswoman, who recently pleaded not guilty to 15 federal counts accusing her of conspiring to steal $5 million in pandemic funds, faced new accusations from the U.S. House Ethics Committee.
“They did these salacious findings, which they misconstrued a lot of information, left out intentionally a lot of information, and they have been trying to have this pressure campaign to get me to resign or abandon my district so they can have the numbers,” Cherfilus-McCormick said.
The new accusations include a campaign-finance scheme that involved local mayors and a network of “shell companies to conceal the source” of donations in support of the first Haitian American from Florida in Congress.
“There was never foreign money in my campaign. There was never this collusion of people. This never happened,” Cherfilus-McCormick said.
The allegations against her include illegal campaign donations through a political committee chaired by North Miami Beach Mayor Michael Joseph, who did not respond to Local 10 News requests for comment.
After Rep. Alcee Hastings died in 2021, Cherfilus-McCormick won a special election to represent Florida’s 20th District in 2022.
As Cherfilus-McCormick fights accusations, the federal criminal case follows a settlement after the Florida Department of Emergency Management filed a lawsuit against Trinity Healthcare Services in civil court.
According to a Nov. 19 federal indictment, $5 million was overpaid to Trinity Healthcare Services, her family’s health care company, as part of a FEMA-funded COVID-19 vaccination staffing contract in 2021, and “misappropriated funds” were spent on a 3-carat yellow diamond ring and donations to her 2021 campaign.
Cherfilus-McCormick was arrested in November and freed on a $60,000 bond.
On Dec. 16, the U.S. House Ethics Committee’s investigative subcommittee adopted a 58-page statement of alleged violations by Cherfilus-McCormick, after a 2024 allegation against her.
On Jan. 29, the U.S. House Ethics Committee announced that an investigative subcommittee had “transmitted” a statement on Jan. 21 reporting Cherfilus-McCormick’s “violations of federal laws and regulations, as well as ethical standards,” including “illegal campaign contributions originating from Petrogaz-Haiti S.A., LLC.”
To boost her campaign, Cherfilus-McCormick’s accusers claim her supporters solicited about $810,000 in “impermissible corporate contributions” from a Haitian executive with PetroGaz-Haiti.
Joseph allegedly arranged a meeting with an owner of Petrogaz-Haiti in April 2022, according to the committee’s records, which also tie Progressive People Inc.; her husband, Corlie McCormick; and North Miami Mayor Alix Desulme.
“Right now, the Republicans have the House, and they determine what goes into that record,” Cherfilus-McCormick said.
In response, Cherfilus-McCormick filed a motion asking the committee to dismiss the proceedings.
The committee described Rep. Michael Guest as the adjudicatory subcommittee’s chairman and listed Reps. Mark DeSaulnier, Ashley Hinson, Glenn F. Ivey, Nathaniel Moran, Sylvia R. Garcia, Brad Knott, and Suhas Subramanyam as members. The adjudicatory subcommittee has a public hearing on March 5.
Related document: OCC report and findings exhibits
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