U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus McCormick has managed to pull off something impressive, and not in the way Florida voters might have hoped. The Justice Department announced she has been indicted for allegedly stealing $5 million in FEMA disaster funds, then pumping part of that cash into her 2021 congressional campaign. For a state that gets hammered by hurricanes on a near yearly basis, this is the kind of accusation that hits like a refrigerator flying through the air during a Category 4 storm.
Prosecutors say the whole mess started with a FEMA funded COVID vaccination staffing contract tied to her family healthcare company. According to the indictment, a massive overpayment came through the pipeline, and instead of returning the money like a normal person who understands what federal auditors do for a living, the operation allegedly shifted that money into political ambition. Some went straight into candidate contributions for her campaign. The rest, as the DOJ put it, went toward self enrichment. Attorney General Pam Bondi called it a selfish, cynical crime, and she did not bother sugar coating it. She reminded everyone that powerful people who rob taxpayers are not supposed to get a free pass.
Cherfilus McCormick’s rise to Congress did not follow an easy road. She tried twice to primary Alcee Hastings before finally winning a special election after his passing. The race she won against Dale Holness was one of the closest in Florida history, and her victory was celebrated as a long delayed breakthrough. Now that celebration has been replaced with a federal indictment and a trail of ethics complaints that have been gathering dust for a year.
Long before prosecutors stepped in, the Office of Congressional Ethics had already found substantial reason to believe she sought money for a community project, then sent it to a private business instead of the intended nonprofit. The inquiry centered on another $5 million she secured through Congress, money that was supposed to go to the Figgers Foundation. According to investigators, the funds ended up somewhere else entirely. House Ethics had to release the OCC report because the clock ran out on the investigation. The allegations range from misreported contributions to possible favors handed out to friends to payments that may have violated committee rules.
To make matters worse, her family company was sued by Florida’s own emergency management division for overcharging the state nearly $5.8 million during the pandemic. That case revolves around the same pattern, a massive overpayment and a refusal to return the money. She was CEO at the time, which ties a neat bow on the growing list of problems.
With this indictment, she becomes the third sitting House Democrat under federal charges, joining Henry Cuellar and LaMonica McIver. Florida politics never disappoints, but even by those standards, this saga is something to behold.
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