Balgarianovinite.com
J. Scott Applewhite for the AP
Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-FL) was indicted by a federal grand jury on Wednesday for allegedly stealing $5 million in FEMA funds and using a “substantial portion” of the dough to fund her 2022 campaign to join the House of Representatives.
The Justice Department said Cherfilus-McCormick’s family healthcare company received a $5 million overpay for a COVID-19 vaccination staffing contract in 2021. Rather than return the funds, the Democratic lawmaker “routed it through multiple accounts to disguise its source,” according to the Justice Department’s announcement.
She conspired with multiple people, including her older brother, Edwin Cherfilus, to pull off the scam. Cherfilus-McCormick faces up to 53 years in prison if convicted.
“Using disaster relief funds for self-enrichment is a particularly selfish, cynical crime,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi said. “No one is above the law, least of all powerful people who rob taxpayers for personal gain. We will follow the facts in this case and deliver justice.”
Cherfilus-McCormick took the relief funds and gave some to her friends and relatives, who later donated the stolen money to her campaign, the indictment said.
Beyond funneling some of the money towards her campaign, lawmakers said she used the money for her “personal benefit.”
She is also alleged to have filed a false tax return, along with her tax preparer, David K. Spencer, which claimed political spending and other personal expenses as business deductions; the pair also inflated her donations to charity.
The 46-year-old lawmaker represents parts of West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale. The company she ran that received the bogus bucks was Trinity Health Care Services, which describes itself as an “innovative health organization” on its website.
NBC 6 in Miami reported she filed a defamation lawsuit against her opponent, Dale Holness, in 2022, after he accused her of embezzling funds. The $1 million lawsuit is currently listed as “inactive.”
Her indictment comes a week after California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s former chief of staff was arrested by the FBI and charged with a number of crimes, including conspiring to move “approximately $225,000 in funds from a dormant political campaign” to an associate.
The post Democratic Rep. Indicted for Allegedly Stealing $5 Million in FEMA Money first appeared on Mediaite.
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