Dem Rep Cherfilus-McCormick Under Investigation For Alleged Fraud

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) has launched an investigation into Democratic Florida Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick after multiple complaints allege her campaign violated federal and state laws surrounding campaign finance. 

Cherfilus-McCormick’s campaign began working with Mark Goodrich — a political consultant who had previously worked for Republicans — in 2021, while running in a special election for the south Florida House seat she currently represents. The Coolidge-Reagan Foundation’s Aug. 11 legal complaint to the FEC, based on an investigation by the Office of Congressional Ethics’ (OCE), alleges Cherfilus-McCormick’s campaign failed to report illegal in-kind contributions from an organization with ties to Goodrich and the congresswoman’s family. (RELATED: Dem Faces Ethics Probe For Allegedly Misusing Congressional Funds)

“You don’t accidentally magically happen to have [multiple entities] ready to go at a moment’s notice. They’re not that quick to set up,” Dan Backer, the attorney filing the complaints against Cherfilus-McCormick for the Coolidge-Reagan Foundation, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “All of this was already in place. These people I think are blatantly corrupt.”

Corlie McCormick Jr. and Chantrell McCormick — the congresswoman’s husband and sister-in-law, respectively — are the registered agents of Progressive People Inc. (PPI), a Florida limited liability corporation (LLC) which gave $725,000 to Truth and Justice Inc. (TJI) in 2022. TJI is a tax-exempt nonprofit organization registered to Gary Eugene Beasley.

Goodrich had direct access to TJI’s funds, according to OCE, and was allegedly using TJI to pay vendors on behalf of Cherfilus-McCormick’s campaign. 

Goodrich, Beasley and Chantrell McCormick did not respond to the DCNF’s requests for comment. McCormick Jr. asked for the DCNF to email him and afterwards did not respond to said email.

Former staffers confirmed to the OCE that Goodrich actually managed both the congresswoman’s 2021-22 special election and 2022 general election campaigns — although Willis P. Howard officially served as the campaigns’ manager.

“The Committee on Ethics has not yet concluded its review of the allegations, and no decision has been made at this time,” Cherfilus-McCormick said in a statement to the DCNF. “As outlined in the Committee’s public statement, the referral for further review does not imply that any violation has occurred. I fully respect the process and remain committed to cooperating with the Committee as it works to bring this inquiry to a close.”

(YouTube / Screenshot / Public — User: Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick)

In addition to being investigated by the FEC and the OCE, the congresswoman is reportedly a target of Florida Republicans in a potential mid-decade redraw of the state’s House map — and it is possible her safely Democratic district can be dismantled prior to the 2026 midterms.

Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis claims the 20th congressional district, with its unusual claw-shaped lines, is unconstitutionally racially gerrymandered. All Florida requires to redistrict is a joint resolution passed by the state legislature, which will be meeting periodically from October to March 2026. 

“[Florida’s 20th district] would be the one that is the most irregularly shaped, that if the U.S. Supreme Court said that you can’t do that, you would be forced to draw that one,” the governor stated at an Aug. 22 press conference. “One hundred percent.”

TJI in summer 2022 made three wire transfer payments totaling one hundred and fifty thousand dollars to a printing and mailing vendor, Image Plus Graphics, on behalf of Rep. Cherfilus-McCormick’s reelection campaign, according to FEC filings. 

Cherfilus-McCormick was aware of Goodrich’s involvement in at least one of the mailers and asked him to print and distribute one, per emails and texts analyzed by the OCE. 

Cherfilus-McCormick’s campaign never reported the illegal in-kind contributions from TJI, and the payments far exceeded FEC limits.

“It is nearly impossible to effectively legislate on behalf of your constituents when you are preoccupied with being a defendant in congressional investigations,” Cherfilus-McCormick said in 2020 while running her second campaign against her scandal-plagued opponent, the late former Democratic Rep. Alcee Hastings. “Moreover, a necessary component of effective representation is trust. Multiple scandals surrounding Rep. Hastings proves that he is untrustworthy and that it is time to elect a representative who will not abuse the power of their office.” 

Also, just a week before TJI made its first wire transfer on behalf of the depleted campaign, Cherfilus-McCormick filed a $1 million defamation lawsuit against former Broward County Mayor Dale Holness, her 2021-22 special election opponent whom she defeated by only five votes in the Democratic primary. The suit accused Holness’ campaign of sending a defamatory text message to voters alleging the congresswoman used taxpayer money to fund her campaign.

“We don’t need to embezzle $6 million in taxpayer dollars to buy a seat in Congress,” the text from Holness’ campaign read. “Our opponent [Cherfilus-McCormick] may think she can do that. (She probably needs to do so to win).”

Trinity Health Care Services LLC allegedly embezzled $5 million in 2021 when Cherfilus-McCormick served as its CEO, according to a second complaint by the Coolidge-Reagan Foundation. The home health care service is registered to her mother and stepfather, Marie and Gabriel Smith, while her brother, Edwin Cherfilus, serves as the vice president of operations. 

Trinity entered a nearly $600,000 contract with the Florida Department of Emergency Services (FDEM) for nursing staff and canvassers to support vaccination efforts on March 4, 2021, per the Coolidge-Reagan Foundation. Later that month, Trinity requested about $50,000 but received over $5 million due to a misplaced decimal — a clerical error Backer alleges to have been done on purpose. 

Rather than return the money to the state, then-CEO Cherfilus-McCormick began funneling taxpayer dollars among her family’s businesses, according to the Coolidge Reagan Foundation’s complaint. Two of the businesses that received funds from Trinity were The EC Firm LLC — which the congresswoman has 50% stake in alongside her brother — and SCM Consulting, an LLC fully owned by Cherfilus-McCormick.

Trinity did not respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.

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