Florida Congresswoman Cherfilus-McCormick indicted by federal grand jury

Claire Heddles, Miami Herald on Nov 19, 2025

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MIAMI — A Miami federal grand jury indicted South Florida Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick Wednesday, accusing her of funneling federal pandemic relief funds back to her own 2021 congressional campaign.

The allegations, announced by the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida, are related to the family health care company where Cherfilus-McCormick and her brother worked in 2021. According to the Department of Justice, their company received a $5 million overpayment of federal COVID relief funds.

Prosecutors allege that a “substantial portion of the misappropriated funds” were then redirected back to Cherfilus-McCormick’s congressional campaign through straw donors and by passing the money through family and friends. “Using disaster relief funds for self-enrichment is a particularly selfish, cynical crime,” Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote in a statement announcing the indictment.

Cherfilus-McCormick’s lawyers indicated Wednesday night that she will fight the charges.

“Congresswoman Cherfilus-McCormick is a committed public servant who is dedicated to her constituents. We will fight to clear her good name,” her attorneys, David Oscar Markus, Margot Moss and Melissa Madrigal, said in a joint statement.

A House ethics committee also investigated the congresswoman, saying that she “may have misreported the source of a campaign contribution or accepted a campaign contribution made by one person in the name of another,” and recommending further investigation in July.

“When FEMA funds are diverted for personal or political gain, it erodes trust and harms us all,” U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones for the Southern District of Florida said Wednesday.

Progressive Democrat Elijah Manley, who is running against Cherfilus-McCormick in the Democratic primary for next year’s election, responded to the indictment Wednesday: “We have families in this district working two and three jobs, trying to make rent, trying to take care of their kids. They cannot afford to be represented by someone facing serious federal charges.”

There are currently two other congressional Democrats under federal indictment.

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