The House Ethics Committee found “substantial reason to believe” that Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-Fla.) violated several laws, regulations and standards of conduct as a member of Congress, according to a report the panel released Thursday.
The report said the House Ethics Committee’s investigative subcommittee is “bringing the charges” against Cherfilus-McCormick related to campaign finance laws and regulations, criminal laws implicated by campaign finance misconduct, the Ethics in Government Act, the Code of Ethics for Government Service and certain House rules.
Cherfilus-McCormick was indicted in November by a grand jury. She is accused of stealing $5 million in Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funds and using some of it to fund her campaign.
Prosecutors alleged that Cherfilus-McCormick and her brother had received an overpayment of $5 million in FEMA funds in July 2021, while their health care company was working on a FEMA-funded staffing contract tied to COVID-19 vaccinations.
The congresswoman served as CEO of the company. Instead of returning the funds, the congresswoman and her brother allegedly conspired to steal them, routing them through multiple accounts to “disguise” their source, the government claimed.
The ISC’s [Investigative Subcommittee] investigation has revealed substantial evidence of conduct consistent with the allegations in the indictment, as well as more extensive misconduct as laid out in the following Statement of Facts in Support of Alleged Violations related to violations of federal laws and regulations, as well as ethical standards,” the report said.
Cherfilus-McCormick pushed back against the findings.
“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 subcommittee said that it reviewed more than 33,000 documents, conducted 28 witness interviews, sent 30 requests for information, issued 59 subpoenas and met 12 times over the 118th and 119th Congress to conduct the investigation.
The report also noted that while Cherfilus-McCormick had “initially produced some documents” to the subcommittee, she ended up invoking her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination after a subpoena to obtain documents and a subpoena to obtain her testimony.
An adjudicatory subcommittee will hold a hearing on March 5 regarding the matter.
