A Florida congresswoman has been charged with stealing $5m (£3.8m) in federal disaster funds.
Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick is accused of laundering some of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) money into her 2021 election campaign.
The 46-year-old Democrat is under investigation by the House of Representatives Ethics Committee and could be expelled from the chamber. Attorney General Pam Bondi called it a “particularly selfish, cynical crime”.
In a statement, Ms Cherfilus-McCormick – who was elected to Congress in 2022 – maintained she was innocent and vowed to clear her name. She faces up to 53 years in prison if convicted.
The fraud was allegedly carried out through a healthcare company operated by the congresswoman and her brother, Edwin Cherfilus, 51, now co-accused.
Ms Cherfilus-McCormick was chief executive of the family firm, Trinity Healthcare Services, at the time.
The company had won a Fema contract to register people for Covid vaccines, but in July 2021 it received an overpayment of $5m in federal funds, according to the justice department.
The siblings allegedly tried to disguise the money’s source by routing it through several accounts and eventually used “a substantial portion” on her congressional campaign.
Ms Cherfilus-McCormick and another person named in the indictment allegedly diverted funds from the Fema contract to friends and relatives, who donated the money back to her campaign as personal contributions, prosecutors said.
“No-one is above the law, least of all powerful people who rob taxpayers for personal gain,” the attorney general said.
“We will follow the facts in this case and deliver justice.”
A federal grand jury in Miami approved the indictment on Wednesday.
Ms Cherfilus-McCormick said in a statement: “This is an unjust, baseless, sham indictment – and I am innocent.”
She added: “I am deeply grateful for the support of my district, and I remain confident that the truth will prevail.”
Her lawyers, David Oscar Markus, Margot Moss, and Melissa Madrigal, said in a statement: “We will fight to clear her good name.”
Ms Cherfilus-McCormick is also under investigation by the House Ethics Committee.
The Office of Congressional Conduct said in its referral that she “may have requested community project funding that would be directed to a for-profit entity”.
On Thursday, a Florida Republican congressman, Greg Steube, said he would introduce a resolution to expel Ms Cherfilus-McCormick.
“Defrauding the federal government and disaster victims of $5 million is an automatic disqualifier from serving in elected office,” he said in a social media post.
By BBC News
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