Below is a news release from the Coolidge Reagan Foundation regarding the Federal Election Commission’s investigation of Florida Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick‘s potential campaign violations, fraud, and embezzlement:
Coolidge Reagan Foundation filed a complaint alleging Cherfilus-McCormick diverted millions of dollars from Florida taxpayers, accepted $150,000+ in illegal campaign contributions for congressional campaign
Washington, D.C. — The Coolidge Reagan Foundation—a nonprofit organization whose Federal Election Commission complaint against Hillary Clinton and the Democratic National Committee led to a record six-figure fine—has now set its sights on the brazen fraud, embezzlement, and campaign finance violations of Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (FL-20), filing both a Federal Election Commission (FEC) complaint and a criminal referral to the Attorney General of the State of Florida. According to the Foundation, Cherfilus-McCormick engaged in fraud and embezzlement to divert millions of dollars from Florida taxpayers for her own personal use and illegally funded her campaign, including over $150,000 in illegal, unreported in-kind corporate contributions.
The relevant legal documents can be accessed here.
The Foundation’s FEC complaint details Cherfilus-McCormick accepting more than $150,000 in illegal in-kind campaign contributions from the nonprofit corporation Truth & Justice, Inc. and attempting to conceal the crime by failing to report those illegal contributions. In 2022, TJ Inc. made $150,288.64 in wire payments to a printing and mailing vendor (Image Plus Graphics) to cover costs associated with Cherfilus-McCormick’s campaign materials. At the time, Cherfilus-McCormick’s principal authorized candidate committee—SCM for Congress Inc.—lacked the funds necessary to pay for even a fraction of the printing and mailing costs, instead paid for by the nonprofit corporation that cannot lawfully contribute to federal candidates or pay for services related to a federal candidate’s campaign.
As the Office of Congressional Ethics found last year, there is “substantial reason to believe” that Cherfilus-McCormick committed blatant violations of federal campaign finance law. The Foundation is now urging the FEC to investigate the matter and commence enforcement proceedings against the congresswoman and her campaign committee, in addition to seeking accountability in the state of Florida for an apparent seven-figure fraud and embezzlement scheme.
The Foundation has also filed a criminal referral letter to Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier over Cherfilus McCormick’s criminal embezzlement scheme. The referral outlines how Cherfilus-McCormick entered into a contract on behalf of Trinity Healthcare Services—a privately held company her family owns and where she served as CEO in 2021—with the Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM). FDEM agreed to pay Trinity nearly $595,000 for “Nursing Staff and Canvassers in support of statewide COVID-19 vaccination efforts.” Under the agreement, Trinity sent an invoice to the State of Florida for $50,578.50 in March 2021, but the state actually paid Trinity $5,057,850 due to an apparent clerical error. In other words, Florida sent 100 times the amount of the invoice and over nine times the total amount of the entire contract to Cherfilus-McCormick’s company.
Rather than notifying FDEM of the mistake, Cherfilus-McCormick took advantage of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic to steal the money, funneling most of the taxpayer funds erroneously paid to Trinity to three outside entities she directly controlled. This included another Trinity-named entity, SCM Consulting (an apparent acronym of “Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick”), and EC Firm LLC, of which she owns 50 percent. Days after the money flowed through the outside companies and then into her own personal account, Cherfilus-McCormick allegedly loaned her campaign more than $2 million of that money, subsequently making several other large loans from those taxpayers funds totaling as much as $3.9 million.
“Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick’s greed, corruption, dishonesty, audacity, and sheer contempt for both the law and hard-working, taxpaying families know no bounds,” said Dan Backer, counsel to the Foundation. “The Coolidge Reagan Foundation is proud that our complaint has opened an FEC investigation, and we hope the Florida Attorney General will also take a long, hard look at Cherfilus-McCormick’s criminal embezzlement, holding her accountable to the people she repeatedly stabbed in the back.”
“Like the Coolidge Reagan Foundation has done time and time again, we will bring transparency and accountability to American democracy,” said Shaun McCutcheon, chairman of the Coolidge Reagan Foundation. “It is our duty to expose corrupt politicians like Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick who continue to stab their constituents in the back for personal and political gain.”
About the Coolidge Reagan Foundation
For over a decade, the Coolidge Reagan Foundation has been one of America’s leading political integrity and campaign finance watchdogs. Its 2018 complaint against Hillary Clinton and the Democratic National Committee over the unlawful funding of the Steele Dossier led to a six-figure fine levied against Clinton—the only fine ever levied against her. The Coolidge Reagan Foundation’s 2019 complaint against Bernie Sanders for hiring illegal aliens led to a five-figure fine, and it has fearlessly taken on the political corruption of Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Cori Bush, Jasmine Crockett, and Rashida Tlaib, among others.
