US prosecutors indict Florida Democrat Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick for allegedly stealing $5 million in COVID-19 funds for her 2021 campaign
LOS ANGELES: US prosecutors have indicted a Florida congresswoman for allegedly stealing $5 million in federal disaster funds.
Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, a Democrat from south Florida, is accused of conspiring with her brother and others to retain a $5 million overpayment to her family’s health care company.
The funds came from a COVID-19 vaccination staffing contract with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
Prosecutors stated the money was wrongly deposited into the family company’s account in July 2021.
The 46-year-old Democrat then allegedly laundered the money into campaign contributions.
She is accused of “funneling other monies from the FEMA-funded Covid-19 contract to friends and relatives who then donated to the campaign as if using their own money.”