{"id":61519,"date":"2025-11-19T20:32:52","date_gmt":"2025-11-20T01:32:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bnonews.com\/?p=61519"},"modified":"2025-11-19T20:32:53","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T01:32:53","slug":"florida-congresswoman-charged-with-stealing-fema-funds-for-campaign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bnonews.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/florida-congresswoman-charged-with-stealing-fema-funds-for-campaign\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida congresswoman charged with stealing FEMA funds for campaign"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>A federal grand jury in Miami has indicted Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick and several co-defendants on charges of stealing federal disaster funds, laundering the proceeds, and using the money to support her 2021 congressional campaign, according to the U.S. Justice Department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/opa\/pr\/south-florida-congresswoman-charged-stealing-5-million-fema-funds-and-making-illegal\">indictment alleges<\/a> that in July 2021, Cherfilus-McCormick, 46, a Democrat representing Florida\u2019s 20th congressional district, and her brother, Edwin Cherfilus, 51, used their family\u2019s health-care company to divert a $5 million overpayment from a FEMA-funded COVID-19 vaccination staffing contract.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Prosecutors say the defendants conspired to steal the $5 million and routed the funds through multiple accounts to disguise their origin. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A substantial portion of the misappropriated money was allegedly used as contributions to Cherfilus-McCormick\u2019s 2021 campaign and for the personal benefit of the defendants, according to the indictment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The charges also allege that Cherfilus-McCormick and Nadege Leblanc, 46, of Miramar, arranged additional campaign contributions using straw donors, funneling other FEMA-funded money to friends and relatives who donated as if using their own funds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cherfilus-McCormick and her 2021 tax preparer, David K. Spencer, 41, of Davie, are also charged with conspiring to file a false federal tax return. Prosecutors say they claimed political spending and personal expenses as business deductions and inflated charitable contributions to reduce her tax liability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cUsing disaster relief funds for self-enrichment is a particularly selfish, cynical crime,\u201d Attorney General Pamela Bondi said. \u201cNo one is above the law, least of all powerful people who rob taxpayers for personal gain.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If convicted, Cherfilus-McCormick faces up to 53 years in prison. Edwin Cherfilus faces up to 35 years, Leblanc up to 10 years, and Spencer up to 33 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>FBI Miami and IRS Criminal Investigation are leading the investigation. The congresswoman has not issued a public comment on the allegations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A federal grand jury in Miami has indicted Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick and several co-defendants on charges of stealing federal disaster funds, laundering the proceeds, and using the money to support her 2021 congressional campaign, according to the U.S. Justice Department. The indictment alleges that in July 2021, Cherfilus-McCormick, 46, a Democrat representing Florida\u2019s 20th congressional [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":61526,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[3999,93,4020,151],"class_list":["post-61519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-corruption-in-the-u-s","tag-florida","tag-sheila-cherfilus-mccormick","tag-united-states"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Florida congresswoman charged with stealing FEMA funds for campaign - BNO News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bnonews.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/florida-congresswoman-charged-with-stealing-fema-funds-for-campaign\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Florida congresswoman charged with stealing FEMA funds for campaign - BNO News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A federal grand jury in Miami has indicted Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick and several co-defendants on charges of stealing federal disaster funds, laundering the proceeds, and using the money to support her 2021 congressional campaign, according to the U.S. Justice Department. The indictment alleges that in July 2021, Cherfilus-McCormick, 46, a Democrat representing Florida\u2019s 20th congressional [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/bnonews.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/florida-congresswoman-charged-with-stealing-fema-funds-for-campaign\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"BNO News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bnonews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-11-20T01:32:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-11-20T01:32:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/bnonews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/FloridaCongresswomanSheilaCherfilus-McCormick.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Carlos Robles\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@bnonews\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@bnonews\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Carlos Robles\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bnonews.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/florida-congresswoman-charged-with-stealing-fema-funds-for-campaign\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bnonews.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/florida-congresswoman-charged-with-stealing-fema-funds-for-campaign\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Carlos Robles\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bnonews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0a2ca734b9c5688c0e2d40fe6f33add1\"},\"headline\":\"Florida congresswoman charged with stealing FEMA funds for campaign\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-20T01:32:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-11-20T01:32:53+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bnonews.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/florida-congresswoman-charged-with-stealing-fema-funds-for-campaign\/\"},\"wordCount\":291,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bnonews.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bnonews.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/florida-congresswoman-charged-with-stealing-fema-funds-for-campaign\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/bnonews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/FloridaCongresswomanSheilaCherfilus-McCormick.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Corruption in the U.S.\",\"Florida\",\"Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick\",\"United States\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Politics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bnonews.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/florida-congresswoman-charged-with-stealing-fema-funds-for-campaign\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/bnonews.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/florida-congresswoman-charged-with-stealing-fema-funds-for-campaign\/\",\"name\":\"Florida congresswoman charged with stealing FEMA funds for campaign - 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