The Federal Election Commission confirmed it opened an investigation into Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, D-Fla., for allegedly taking illegal campaign contributions and attempting to conceal them from required federal reporting.
The FEC is responding to a complaint from conservative advocacy group the Coolidge Reagan Foundation based on a separate investigation done by an internal congressional watchdog.
The complaint is under review and will be “referred to the Enforcement Division of the Office of the General Counsel,” wrote Wanda D. Brown, assistant general counsel for complaints examination and legal administration at the FEC, in an Aug. 19 letter to the foundation.
The FEC review is in addition to a pending House Ethics Committee probe of the Florida congresswoman stemming from the same internal congressional watchdog investigation.
“Money has moved around a web of entities with a bunch of family members on the boards [of those entities],” Dan Backer, a Washington lawyer representing the Coolidge Reagan Foundation, told The Daily Signal.
In its FEC complaint, the foundation alleges 12 violations against Cherfilus-McCormick.
“Democratic Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick appears to have accepted over $150,000 in illegal in-kind campaign contributions from a corporation and attempted to conceal this crime by failing to accurately report those illegal contributions,” the complaint says.
It continues: “The Office of Congressional Ethics has already issued a report and findings concluding ‘there is substantial reason to believe’ Rep. Cherfilus-McCormick committed these blatant violations of federal campaign finance law.”
Most of the foundation’s FEC complaint is backed up by findings—released to the public in January—by the Office of Congressional Ethics, the staff agency that recommended the House Ethics Committee investigate the matter.
“Documents obtained by the OCE show that a Florida company, Truth & Justice, Inc., made multiple payments to a printing and mailing vendor, Image Plus Graphics, on behalf of Rep. Cherfilus-McCormick’s 2022 re-election campaign,” the Office of Congressional Ethics’ report said. “These payments—made over the course of a few weeks in July and August of 2022—totaled $150,288.64.”
The Florida secretary of state’s website says Truth & Justice Inc. was “administratively dissolved” in September 2023.
The Daily Signal made numerous inquiries by phone and email to the office of Cherfilus-McCormick last week and this week. A spokesperson did not respond. However, earlier this year, Cherfilus-McCormick did comment on the findings of the Office of Congressional Ethics.
“As stated in the committee’s public statement, the investigative subcommittee has not concluded its review of the allegations, and the release of OCE’s findings is simply a result of the House investigative process,” Cherfilus-McCormick said in a statement published in several news outlets. “The fact that the allegations were referred for further review does not indicate any violation has occurred. I plan on continuing to collaborate with the committee and its investigative subcommittee.”
The six-member FEC requires four members for a quorum but currently has three vacancies. The commission cannot make a ruling until it has a quorum. However, Backer notes, the FEC’s general counsel will still investigate the matter.
The House Ethics Committee probe could also be revealing, he said.
“I want to see every Democrat show as much indignation over this as when they attacked George Santos. This is much worse,” Backer said, referring to Santos, a former Republican U.S. House member from New York who was expelled from Congress after an ethics probe found he told numerous lies about his background and he was charged by authorities for using campaign money for personal expenses, misreporting his finances to Congress, and other crimes.
Separately, the Coolidge Reagan Foundation also made a criminal complaint to Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier regarding the congresswoman’s company receiving a Florida state taxpayer-funded grant that was 100 times larger than it should have been.
The foundation alleges Cherfilus-McCormick entered into a contract in 2021 on behalf of her family’s company, Trinity Health Care Services, where she was the CEO, with the Florida Division of Emergency Management.
The agency agreed to pay Trinity Health Care Services about $50,000 to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. The state, because of an apparent clerical error, instead paid Trinity $5 million.
The complaint to the attorney general contends Trinity did not notify the state’s emergency management agency of the mistake.
The agency reportedly sued Trinity Health Care in December 2024 to recoup the payment. The two parties reached a settlement in May to allow the company to repay the money to the state over 15 years.
Trinity Health Care did not respond to voicemail inquiries nor a phone message left with a receptionist for this story.
Spokespersons for Florida’s attorney general and the Florida Division of Emergency Management did not respond to phone and email inquiries for this story.
In its investigation, the Office of Congressional Ethics requested cooperation from the Florida Division of Emergency Management and Trinity Health Care. The report says Trinity Health Care was among the individuals and entities that refused to cooperate.
