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House Ethics report reveals new details in US Rep. Cherfilus-McCormick federal investigation

Cherfilus-McCormick faces decades in prison after being charged in November with using public money to fund her congressional campaign

(AP Photo/Terry Renna)

U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, D-Fla., speaks to the media after a hearing in federal court Monday, Dec. 29, 2025, in Miami.

By: Ethan Stein

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PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — A newly released U.S. House Ethics report reveals many new details about the federal investigation of U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, D-Fla.

The congresswoman — who represents the Glades, Riviera Beach, areas of Royal Palm Beach and West Palm Beach located along Belvedere Road — already faces decades in prison after being charged in November with using public money to fund her congressional campaign.

This report from the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Ethics reveals new details like what the congresswoman purchased, how her family members benefited and raises questions about other campaign finance issues during her three campaigns for Congress.

Cherfilus-McCormick has repeatedly said she is innocent and has done nothing wrong.

According to the new ethics report, the congresswoman invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination following the receipt of a subpoena to obtain documents. Her office said the ongoing legal process didn't allow her to rebut or defend herself in a written statement

"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," Cherfilus-McCormick wrote. "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."

Read the full ethics report below:

PROBLEMS WITH PAST CAMPAIGNS

Before Cherfilus-McCormick won a special election, she lost a congressional race in 2018 by more than 47 points. According to House investigators, the bank account registered as her campaign account for the 2018 race didn't exist rather, it was a personal account. Officials also found the campaign failed to file reports at all for several reporting periods.

During the 2020 election, where she lost the Democratic primary to the incumbent by 38% of the vote, officials said Cherfilus-McCormick also failed to file reports to the Federal Election Commission for several reporting periods.

Investigators also said bank records show her husband's law firm gave her $50,000 on the last day of the quarterly reporting period, which was then transferred to Cherfilus-McCormick's campaign account on the same day.

One month later, investigators said Cherfilus-McCormick then paid her husband the same amount, which was deposited into a separate account for his law firm. The contribution and repayment weren't reported to the campaign finance regulators, according to House investigators.

Investigators said a similar exchange of funds between the law firm and accounts belonging to Cherfilus-McCormick's campaign in July 2020. They questioned if this exchange of funds were donations over the maximum amount of money campaigns for federal office can take from individuals.

"There is no limit on how much money a candidate can donate or loan to their own campaign, but those funds must be 'personal funds' of the candidate," investigators wrote. "Personal funds are defined under the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) as the candidate's income and assets to which the candidate 'had legal right of access to or control over' and 'legal and rightful title or an equitable interest.' Respondent is not a partner in her husband's law firm and is not an authorized user of the firm’s bank accounts. Respondent did not provide the ISC with any information demonstrating her legal title to or interest in the funds held in the law firm’s accounts."

According to investigators, Cherfilus-McCormick’s husband said he wasn't aware of any limits on how much money he could contribute to the campaign and wasn't sure if he donated any money during the election.

NEW DETAILS INTO STATE CONTRACT

According to federal prosecutors, Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick funded her congressional campaign during the special election with public money, originally earmarked to register people for COVID-19 vaccines. The Florida Democrat faces decades in prison after being charged with 15 federal counts, accusing her of stealing more than $5 million. Prosecutors said the money also went to personal expenses like a 3-carat yellow diamond ring.

This new ethics report reveals the ring was from Tiffany's, which is the type of ring in the congresswoman's official portrait. Investigators also said the congresswoman bought a Tesla, designer clothing, high-end hotels and cruise. Other than the ring, no other purchase announcements were made publicly.

Cherfilus-McCormick obtained this money after a clerical error from the state overpaid her health care company, Trinity Health Care Services, by $5.7 million to perform vaccination registration at churches and other locations.

The state filed a lawsuit in December 2024 after the company refused to payback the money to the Florida Department of Emergency Management.

WPTV was the first to uncover records showing Cherfilus-McCormick's consulting company, SCM Consulting Group, saw an increase in money of $6 million. Then the consulting company donated thousands to a Political Action Committee controlled by her campaign manager, who created materials for her campaign.

This report reveals that Cherfilus-McCormick's family members also received money from the state contract, which hasn't been previously reported until now. Investigators said EC Firm, a company with connections to her brother named Edwin, received $800,844 from Trinity HealthCare for work on the state contract. Investigators also said MC Nursing, registered by the congresswoman’s sister, received $74,000 from Trinity for work done on the contract. But, house investigators said they didn’t have evidence that either company, including the congresswoman's consulting company, did any of the work.

"The ISC did not receive evidence that SCM Consulting, EC Firm, or MC Nursing actually provided staffing services to Trinity or had the capability to do so," wrote House investigators. "No individuals were paid for vaccination services by these companies on behalf of Trinity."

The report also said Trinity Health Care's spreadsheets showed SCM Consulting and EC Firm were paid $40 an hour, meaning the congresswoman's firm would have had to work 150,000 hours or 17 years to earn the reported $6.4 million she reported as income.

POSSIBLE CAMPAIGN FINANCE VIOLATIONS DURING SPECIAL ELECTION

According to this report, bank records show Cherfilus-McCormick gave her own campaign $6 million over the course of 99 separate transactions. Investigators said almost every transaction from Cherfilus-McCormick's bank account to her own campaign was preceded by a transfer from Trinity Health Care, providing funds to that account. For example, the report said Trinity wired $2 million to her personal account at Financial Institution 2 on June 23, 2021, and she transferred $2 million to the campaign committee the next day.

However, the report said the campaign's reports to the Federal Election Commission were inaccurate because the numbers did not reflect the transactions that didn't exist. The report said one loan was even a transfer from one campaign bank account to another account belonging to the campaign. Officials also said Cherfilus-McCormick and people working under her supervision understood some of the loans were never intended to be used, but were instead a way to bolster the campaign’s reported fundraising.

Investigators also said Cherfilus-McCormick made transfers to her campaign at or near the end of FEC reporting periods, enabling the campaign to report higher cash-on-hand numbers, and in some instances, the campaign returned the loans to Respondent within approximately a week. For example, she made a $2 million campaign loan on June 24, 2021 (one week before the end of the quarterly reporting period), and the campaign repaid $1,980,000 on July 2, 2021; similarly, a loan reported as being made on March 31, 2022, for $400,000 (the last day of the quarterly reporting period), which was received by the campaign on April 1, was repaid on April 4, 2022.

Investigators released the following texts from staffers showing they knew about the scheme:

"[Respondent] put a million dollars into the account right before the deadline and then took the money back out, I think, the next day," an individual texted to Nadege LeBlanc, the congresswoman's current Chief of Staff.

Investigators also said Cherfilus-McCormick received eight payments worth more than $1 million from bank accounts controlled by her or her family members that were not reported to the FEC. They also said the campaign paid firms controlled by her family for materials like signs, but their was no proof signs were made on behalf of the campaign. The report said the congresswoman’s husband said he didn’t know if the notation for "signs" was accurate, but he said he had made signs for the campaign through EC Firm.

Read more of our coverage of the case below: