South Florida Congresswoman Cherfilus-McCormick indicted by federal grand jury
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 healthcare 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.
The indictment also levies charges against Cherfilus-McCormick’s brother Edwin Cherfilus, accusing him of conspiring to steal the federal funds and route them through other accounts.
The DOJ also named Nadege Leblanc and Cherfilus-McCormick’s tax preparer David Spencer as co-defendents. Leblanc is accused of arranging straw donor contributions and Spencer of claiming false business expenses on the congresswoman’s tax bill, according to the DOJ.
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. In a statement provided to the Miami Herald by her chief of staff, the congresswoman said: “This is an unjust, baseless, sham indictment — and I am innocent. The timing alone is curious and clearly meant to distract from far more pressing national issues.” She added, “I remain confident that the truth will prevail. I look forward to my day in court.”
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,” Trump-appointed U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones for the Southern District of Florida said Wednesday.
Reding Quiñones’ office has been plagued by controversy in recent weeks over its focus on Trump’s adversaries. Former prosecutors called the state of affairs in the office “horrifying,” with two prosecutors resigning over Reding Quiñones’ investigation into Barack Obama’s CIA director.
Progressive Democrat Elijah Manley, who is running against Cherfilus-McCormick in the Democratic primary for next year’s election for Florida’s 20th congressional district, which includes parts of Broward and Palm Beach counties, 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 in the House.
Miami Herald staff writer Jay Weaver contributed to this report.
This story was originally published November 19, 2025 at 7:11 PM.
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