A bipartisan House Ethics subcommittee found Democratic Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick of Florida guilty on 25 of 27 counts of violating House rules, the panel announced Friday, a verdict that clears the way for possible sanctions up to and including expulsion from Congress. The determination came after a rare seven-hour public hearing Thursday at which the congresswoman did not speak publicly.
The panel said it found "clear and convincing" evidence on nearly every count brought against Cherfilus-McCormick. At the heart of the case: allegations that she used her family's businesses to channel roughly $5 million in emergency COVID-19 relief funds into her 2021 special election campaign to replace the late Democratic Rep. Alcee Hastings. She was also found guilty of accepting and failing to properly document illegal in-kind campaign contributions from an organization tied to her former campaign manager, who oversaw her 2021 and 2022 campaigns.
The committee said it will hold another hearing after the Easter recess to decide whether to recommend sanctions. The options, as the New York Post reported, could range from censure to expulsion.
The money trail, as described across multiple outlets, runs through Cherfilus-McCormick's family health care company. National Review reported that a federal grand jury had previously indicted her in November, alleging she stole $5 million in FEMA funds tied to a COVID vaccination contract involving her family's company, Trinity Healthcare Services. Investigators alleged that overpaid federal funds were routed through various accounts and used to support Cherfilus-McCormick's special election campaign.
Federal prosecutors told a different but overlapping version of the same story. They allege her family company kept a mistaken $5 million payment from a Florida agency, then moved the money to disguise its source and used some of it to fund her campaign. Newsmax noted that some of the money allegedly went to personal purchases, including a 3-carat yellow diamond ring.
The New York Post reported that about $3.6 million in federal funds paid to Trinity Health Care Solutions ultimately reached Cherfilus-McCormick's campaign through personal loans and other contributions. That figure alone would represent a staggering volume of allegedly laundered taxpayer dollars, money that was supposed to go toward emergency pandemic relief for South Florida residents.
Cherfilus-McCormick faces 15 federal criminal charges. If convicted, she could face up to 53 years in prison, as the Daily Caller reported. Her trial is expected to begin next month and stretch into the summer.
Republican Florida Rep. Greg Stuebe wasted no time. He posted on X Thursday night after the hearing, laying out the charges in blunt terms.
"Money laundering. False statements. Illegal campaign contributions. Hiding financial disclosures. And Democrats still defend this? This is disgraceful. The American people deserve better than corruption in Congress. I'm ready to expel Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick!"
Stuebe's call was notable but not isolated. Even a fellow Democrat, Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington, weighed in. Breitbart reported her post on X: "You can't crime your way into legitimate power."
That a sitting Democrat would publicly rebuke a colleague in those terms tells you something about how indefensible this conduct has become, even within the party.
Ethics Chairman Michael Guest and Ranking Member Mark DeSaulnier issued a joint statement confirming the timeline ahead. "Shortly after the House returns from the April recess, the full Committee will hold a hearing to determine what, if any, sanction would be appropriate for the Committee to recommend," they said.
The ethics investigation stretched over three years before reaching Thursday's public hearing. National Review described it as a special House Ethics Committee process that culminated in the 25-of-27 guilty finding. The two counts on which the panel did not find her guilty were not detailed in available reporting.
Cherfilus-McCormick's silence during the seven-hour proceeding Thursday was conspicuous. She offered no public defense, no rebuttal, no explanation. She did, however, issue a statement afterward. "I look forward to proving my innocence," she said, as National Review reported.
That statement sits uneasily alongside the panel's finding of clear and convincing evidence on 25 separate counts. The ethics process and the federal criminal case are separate proceedings, but they rest on the same core allegations, that a sitting member of Congress diverted millions in emergency pandemic funds meant for her constituents and used them to win and hold her seat.
As we reported when the ethics panel first brought charges against Cherfilus-McCormick over the alleged theft of COVID funds, the scope of the alleged misconduct was already extraordinary. The guilty verdict now confirms what the charges suggested.
Just the News reported that the ethics panel could ultimately recommend expulsion, a step Congress has taken only a handful of times in its history. The combination of a bipartisan ethics guilty finding and a looming federal trial puts Cherfilus-McCormick in a position almost without precedent in modern congressional history.
This is not a case of a minor filing error or a late disclosure. The allegations describe a deliberate scheme: take emergency pandemic money, route it through family businesses, disguise its origins, and spend it to win a congressional seat. Then fail to document the illegal contributions that made it possible.
The guilty finding on 25 counts now puts the full House on notice. When members return from Easter recess, they will face a straightforward question: what sanction fits a colleague found guilty of this volume of misconduct while simultaneously facing a federal indictment carrying more than half a century in prison?
The case also raises uncomfortable questions about how long Cherfilus-McCormick was able to serve while these allegations worked their way through the system. She won her special election in 2021. The ethics investigation took three years. The federal indictment came only last November. All the while, she continued to vote, draw a salary, and represent a South Florida district whose residents were, if the charges hold, among the very people whose emergency relief money she allegedly stole.
Even as federal charges mounted, Cherfilus-McCormick continued her political activities. As we previously reported, the indicted Florida Democrat promoted Pelosi's past support in her reelection efforts, though no fresh endorsement had come in years, a detail that speaks to the gap between the image she projected and the reality the ethics panel has now confirmed.
Cases like this are not confined to one party or one state. A recent fraud indictment against a Texas sheriff underscored how public officials entrusted with taxpayer money can exploit that trust for personal gain. But the Cherfilus-McCormick case stands out for its sheer scale, $5 million in pandemic relief, 25 ethics violations, 15 federal charges, and a potential sentence that could stretch past half a century.
The sanctions hearing after Easter recess will test the House's appetite for accountability. Expulsion requires a two-thirds vote, a high bar, but one that becomes easier to clear when the evidence is this overwhelming and bipartisan.
Meanwhile, the federal trial looms. If Cherfilus-McCormick is convicted on all 15 counts, she faces up to 53 years in prison. Even a partial conviction would almost certainly end her political career and could send her away for decades.
The ethics panel did its job. A bipartisan group of lawmakers reviewed the evidence, held a public hearing, and reached a clear verdict on the overwhelming majority of counts. Now the question is whether the rest of Congress, and the federal courts, will follow through.
Taxpayers sent $5 million to South Florida to fight a pandemic. If these findings hold, what they got instead was a congresswoman.
