House Ethics Committee charges Rep. Cherfilus-McCormick with 25 counts of misconduct

The House Ethics Committee said 25 counts of misconduct by Florida Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick have been “proven by clear and convincing evidence,” after a closed-door vote during the wee hours Friday morning and rare, televised hearing Thursday evening.

Ethics Committee staff had accused the Democrat of 27 counts of misconduct. Many of the charges were related to millions of dollars paid to her family’s health care company in state COVID contracts that made their way into her campaign coffers in her 2021 special election campaign.

Her attorney argued Thursday that all of those funds were lawfully hers and she used the right that any member of Congress has to use an unlimited amount of their own money to try and get elected. The House Ethics Committee disagreed.

There were also “proven” allegations, according to the committee, of repeated campaign finance violations and providing special favors in connection to congressional funding of local projects.

There were additional allegations that she accepted improper corporate donations from a Florida-based oil company called PetroGaz-Haiti to fund her 2022 reelection campaign.

The committee found her guilty of accepting “conduit funds” from that company by impermissibly funneling corporate donations into her campaign through separate entities, but stopped short of agreeing with committee staff that the actions amounted to “money laundering.”

The money laundering of PetroGaz Haiti funds was one of just two charges the committee did not find to be proven. The second was a charge of a lack of candor during the Ethics Committee’s investigation.

The Ethics Committee will now hold a meeting to discuss potential consequences, and the matter could come up for full House vote on her censure or expulsion.

“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,” the Ethics Committee’s statement Friday said.

The Democratic lawmaker is also facing criminal charges alleging that she stole COVID relief funds after the state made a $5 million overpayment error to her family’s health care company. Both the Department of Justice and the House Ethics Committee have accused her of funneling part of that money into her campaign. She has pleaded not guilty.