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The Democratic representative from Florida Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick announced her resignation from Congress on Tuesday to avoid formal sanctions from the House of Representatives, on the same day the Ethics Committee was set to deliberate on her potential expulsion.
Cherfilus-McCormick, who was serving her third term and running for re-election, faces federal criminal charges accusing her of stealing approximately $5 million in COVID-19 relief funds administered by the federal emergency agency FEMA.
The scheme, according to the accusation from the Department of Justice, involves your family business Trinity Healthcare Services, which received an overpayment of $5 million in July 2021 for a coronavirus vaccination contract.
Instead of refunding the money, the congresswoman and her brother Edwin Cherfilus distributed it through multiple accounts to conceal its origin and used a portion of the funds for luxury personal expenses, including a three-carat yellow diamond ring valued at over $100,000, jewelry from Tiffany & Co., a Tesla, designer clothing, high-end hotels, and a cruise.
She is also accused of having funded her 2022 Congressional campaign through a network of fictitious donors among family and friends, and of filing false tax returns together with her tax preparer David K. Spencer. She was arrested in November 2025 and released on a $60,000 bail.
The Ethics Committee of the House had published a 59-page report concluding that there was substantial reason to believe that the congresswoman had committed multiple serious violations. Cherfilus-McCormick was not the only legislator to resign under similar pressures: the Democrat Swalwell from California and Republican Tony Gonzales from Texas also resigned under similar circumstances.
In explaining her decision in a lengthy social media message, Cherfilus-McCormick described the process as a "witch hunt" and unjust, stating that the committee denied her new attorney sufficient time to prepare her defense.
"The Ethics Committee rejected my new lawyer's reasonable request for time to prepare my defense. By proceeding with this process while there is an ongoing criminal accusation, the committee has prevented me from defending myself. I will not stand by and pretend that this has been anything other than a witch hunt. I simply cannot allow my rights to due process to be trampled on, nor my good name to be tarnished."
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