House Ethics Committee finds indicted Dem Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick 'guilty' on 25 counts

WASHINGTON — The House Ethics Committee found Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-Fla.) broke campaign finance laws and committed other violations by taking more than $5 million in federal relief and funneling much of the money toward her political aspirations. An eight-member subcommittee voted early Friday that Cherfilus-McCormick was “guilty” ofon 25 of the 27 counts related to the scheme following a rare public “trial” that stretched for more than six hours the night before. “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,” Ethics Chairman Michael Guest (R-Miss.) and Ranking Member Mark DeSaulnier (D-Calif.) said in a joint statement. That recommendation could be that the full House censure Cherfilus-McCormick — or even expel her from Congress. The vote tally of the subcommittee — which consists of four Democrats and four Republicans — was not provided by the ethics panel, though members from both parties posed tough questions to the South Florida Democrat’s defense attorney during the hearing. The lawyer, William Barzee, tried unsuccessfully to postpone the committee’s consideration of the violations, noting that Cherfilus-McCormick will be headed to federal trial next month, at which she will face charges based on many of the same allegations. In November 2025, federal prosecutors indicted the congresswoman on 15 counts related to her allegedly stealing $5 million  in Federal Emergency Management Agency funding to assist her congressional campaign. Some of the funds were splurged on luxuries — including a 3.14-carat yellow diamond ring, prosecutors alleged. The 47-year-old faces up to 53 years in prison if convicted of all charges. Barzee expressed concerns throughout Thursday’s hearing that any finding by the Ethics Committee would taint the jury pool. “She’s absolutely innocent. She’s looking forward to being in criminal court in order to prove her innocence, which I’m confident she’s going to be able to do,” Barzee told the subcommittee members, adding that any determination in the House “will result in a loss of her constitutional rights.” One of the counts not agreed upon by a majority of the subcommittee members involved allegations of money laundering “to conceal the source of the funds” from a Florida-based corporation to Cherfilus-McCormick’s 2022 congressional campaign. Another money laundering count was proven and involved millions of dollars in federal funds paid to a for-profit health care company owned by the congresswoman’s family that helped with the rollout of COVID-19 vaccinations in Florida, per House ethics findings . Between 2020 and 2021, Cherfilus-McCormick’s $86,000 salary from the company, Trinity Health Care Solutions, remained flat — even as it took more than $6 million in government funding for COVID jab registration efforts. At least $5.7 million of that sum flowed to a consulting firm that the lawmaker “wholly owned” between March 2021 and October 2022, when it was voluntarily dissolved, a House ethics report  determined in January.