Congress targets North Miami Beach mayor over Cherfilus-McCormick investigation
The U.S. House Ethics Committee is recommending that North Miami Beach Mayor Michael Joseph be held in criminal contempt of Congress — and wants those charges referred to the Department of Justice — for not helping with its investigation into former Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick.
The Ethics Committee is asking for a full House vote on whether Joseph should be “found to be in contempt of Congress for his failure to comply” with subpoenas for documents and testimony about Cherfilus-McCormick.
The House is currently in recess and returns in mid-July, when Speaker Mike Johnson could put the matter up for a vote. If the House approves the committee’s recommendation, and the Department of Justice decides to pursue charges, Joseph could face a fine of up to $100,000 and prison time for up to a year.
“The Ethics report is inaccurate. I cooperated with their investigation as required under the law,” Joseph said in a statement to the Miami Herald. “My attorneys have contacted the House Ethics Committee to correct the record and rescind their report and recommendation.”
Attorneys for Joseph sent a letter to the House Ethics Committee in mid-June saying that he was never properly served the subpoenas in person. They argued that his actions show “no contempt by Mr. Joseph, much less criminal contempt” and pointed to emails his attorneys sent to the committee last year as evidence of Joseph’s efforts to comply, according to a copy of the letter reviewed by the Herald.
READ MORE: House Ethics Committee charges Cherfilus-McCormick with 25 counts of misconduct
Joseph was prominently featured in a House Ethics Committee report earlier this year accusing Cherfilus-McCormick of impermissibly funnelling corporate contributions from a politically connected oil company called Petrogaz-Haiti into her campaign.
According to that report, Joseph arranged a meet-and-greet between Cherfilus McCormick and the company’s owner. Four days later, Petrogaz-Haiti or its owner — the report is unclear — wrote the first in a string of checks that totaled $810,000 to a political organization chaired by Joseph.
The organization turned around and gave most of those funds to a separate, now-defunct group that helped fund the congresswoman’s 2022 campaign without disclosing its spending, according to House investigators.
“She deserves her day in court,” Joseph said in a statement to the Herald in February about that report. “I believe she is being unfairly targeted because one seat makes a difference for which political party controls the U.S. House of Representatives.”
A spokesperson for Cherfilus-McCormick — who resigned from her seat but is running for reelection in Florida’s 20th District — declined to comment.
Criminal charges from contempt of Congress referrals are rare. The House held 10 people in criminal contempt of Congress between 2008 and 2023, according to a Congressional Research Service report. The Department of Justice indicted just two of those people, including Steve Bannon in 2022, who was sentenced to four months in prison and fined $6,500.
This story has been updated to include a response from Mayor Michael Joseph.
This story was originally published July 2, 2026 at 1:51 PM.
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