Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick says she will resign from Congress following ethics violations

Cherfilus-McCormick is accused of misusing the relief funds to finance her 2021 congressional campaign. She was federally indicted on charges related to the money laundering allegations in November and will face a federal criminal trial in Miami early next year.

The Florida Democrat is the latest member of Congress to announce their resignation in recent weeks, following Reps. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., and Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, who also faced scrutiny from the House Ethics Committee.

Cherfilus-McCormick, who is serving her third term in the House, is under indictment on criminal charges of stealing up to $5 million in federal disaster funds, laundering the proceeds, and using the money to support her 2021 congressional campaign. Cherfilus-McCormick pleaded not guilty to the criminal charges. The House Ethics Committee held a rare public hearing on the allegations last month and found she violated 25 ethics rules.

“The [Investigative subcommittee] conducted a thorough investigation over the course of two years, including
sending 30 requests for information, issuing 59 subpoenas, conducting 28 witness interviews, and review ing over 33,000 pages of documents,” the committee said of its ethics investigation in a memorandum that was shared ahead of a scheduled sanctions hearing on Tuesday.

Several political and faith-based organizations in Florida submitted letters of support for the Cherfilus-McCormick ahead of the sanctions vote.

The supporting letters focused not on defending Cherfilus-McCormick’s character but on making the argument that expelling her would leave hundreds of thousands of Floridians without representation. House members who resign in the middle of their term are replaced via a special election in their state, meaning the seat remains vacant until a new representative is elected by the voters of that district.

The Justice Department alleged the Florida lawmaker and her brother, Edwin Cherfilus, used a $5 million overpayment from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for their family health care company’s Covid-19 vaccination staffing contract to fund her 2021 congressional campaign and for their personal benefit.