Democratic Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick has been federally indicted on charges that she stole more than $5 million in COVID-19 disaster relief funds to bankroll her successful 2021 congressional campaign and line her own pockets, according to a Miami grand jury indictment. She has denied all wrongdoing and called the case politically driven, suggesting racism may be at play for limiting progress.
Cherfilus-McCormick won a 2021 special election for the South Florida congressional seat previously held by the late Alcee Hastings, edging out Broward Commissioner Dale Holness by just five votes in an 11-person race. Her victory stood out for one striking reason: money. After raising a combined $109,380 in two prior primary campaigns against Hastings, she raised more than $6.7 million for the special election, drawing immediate scrutiny from ethics investigators.
How Prosecutors Say the $5 Million Was Moved
According to Cherfilus-McCormick federal fraud charges, the Florida Department of Emergency Management hired Cherfilus-McCormick’s family company, Trinity Healthcare Services, in March 2021 to help administer COVID-19 vaccines. On July 1, 2021, a state clerical error sent Trinity a payment of $5,057,850 instead of the intended $50,578.50. After the funds arrived, Cherfilus-McCormick sent her brother Edwin Cherfilus a screenshot of the bank account showing the windfall, and the two began moving the money within weeks.
Prosecutors allege the siblings routed the funds through a web of consulting companies they controlled, including SCM Consulting Group, owned by Cherfilus-McCormick, and the EC Firm, owned by Edwin. On August 31, a shared money market account paid $109,000 to a New York jeweler for a 3.14-carat Fancy Vivid Yellow Diamond ring. Cherfilus-McCormick can be seen wearing a ring matching that description in her official congressional portrait. Over the following month, the indictment alleges, more than $1.14 million in total moved from that same account into her campaign fund.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Miami said in a statement that “a substantial portion of the misappropriated funds was used as candidate contributions to Cherfilus-McCormick’s 2021 congressional campaign and for the personal benefit of the defendants.”
The Straw Donor Scheme and Fraudulent Tax Filing
The indictment also charges Cherfilus-McCormick with conspiring with her campaign manager, Nadege LeBlanc, to run a straw donor scheme. In late June 2021, LeBlanc allegedly distributed cash from Trinity’s corporate account to friends and family members who then wrote personal checks to the campaign, concealing the true source of the money. Federal election law capped individual donations at $2,900 per election. In one text cited in the indictment, LeBlanc wrote to a prospective donor, “I need a favor. If I give you $5,800 in cash, can you write me two checks for $2,900?”
Cherfilus-McCormick herself allegedly explained the arrangement to a friend: “The max is 2 checks of 2900. That is why [Person 2] had to give money to Nadege for her to make another donation.” Separately, the indictment accuses Cherfilus-McCormick and her accountant, David Kofi Spencer, of filing a fraudulent 2021 tax return that relabeled more than $4 million in transfers as legitimate business expenses and inflated a charitable contribution to a Maryland church to $1.2 million. When the IRS subpoenaed Kofi Spencer’s records in early 2024, prosecutors allege he altered the church’s original tax letter before submitting it.
What Comes Next for the Congresswoman
Cherfilus-McCormick appeared in court last week for her arraignment and maintained her innocence. “Today I made my initial appearance in a case that is both politically timed and politically motivated,” she said in a statement afterward. “Let me be clear: I am innocent and I look forward to my day in court.”
In a separate statement, she called the charges “an unjust, baseless, sham indictment” and said the timing was “clearly meant to distract from far more pressing national issues.” A federal judge in Miami has set her bond at $60,000. The House Committee on Ethics had already been investigating her campaign finances since 2024, and that inquiry was still described as ongoing as recently as May of this year.
