WASHINGTON — Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, D-Fla., will step down from her leadership position on a House Foreign Relations subcommittee while she is being investigated for allegedly stealing millions of dollars in FEMA funds.
Cherfilus-McCormick was indicted on federal charges on Wednesday over allegations she illegally stole $5 million in FEMA overpayments from her company and transferred it to her congressional campaign account. If convicted, she could spend up to 53 years in prison, according to the Justice Department.
“Using disaster relief funds for self-enrichment is a particularly selfish, cynical crime,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement. “No one is above the law, least of all powerful people who rob taxpayers for personal gain. We will follow the facts in this case and deliver justice.”
The indictment alleges that Cherfilus-McCormick’s family health care company received the overpayment in 2021 through a FEMA-funded COVID-19 vaccination staffing contract. She and her brother then took that money and routed it through multiple accounts to “disguise its source” before depositing it to her campaign, the indictment states.
One way that was achieved, the indictment alleges, is that the funds were given to friends and relatives, who then donated the money to her campaign “as if using their own money.”
Prosecutors then say “a substantial portion” of those funds were used as contributions in her 2021 campaign and “for the personal benefit of the defendants.”
The indictment also charges Cherfilus-McCormick and a 2021 tax preparer for filing a false federal tax return, in which they claimed the political spending and personal expenses as business deductions and charitable contributions to reduce her tax obligations, the indictment alleges.
Cherfilus-McCormick responded to the indictment in a statement on Thursday, denouncing it as a “sham.”
“I am innocent,” she said. “The timing alone is curious and clearly meant to distract from far more pressing national issues. From day one, I have cooperated with every lawful request, and I will continue to do so until the matter is resolved.”