Another hearing delay for a Florida congresswoman accused of stealing COVID-19 funds

MIAMI (AP) — A federal judge in Miami yet again rescheduled a hearing on Tuesday so that a Florida congresswoman charged with conspiring to steal $5 million in federal COVID-19 disaster funds could finalize her legal team.

Judge Enjoliqué A. Lett granted U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick’s request for two more weeks, moving the arraignment to Feb. 3. Prosecutors didn’t object.

Defense attorney David Oscar Markus told the judge that Cherfilus-McCormick’s finances were complicated, but that he was confident they’d be able to reach an agreement to secure legal counsel by next month’s court date. The congresswoman’s arraignment had previously been scheduled for late December, but it was rescheduled for Tuesday.

Markus and Cherfilus-McCormick declined to speak with reporters before or after Tuesday’s hearing, but she has maintained her innocence since the charges were announced last year.

Cherfilus-McCormick, a Democrat, has pleaded not guilty. She is facing 15 federal counts that accuse her of stealing funds that had been overpaid to her family’s health care company, Trinity Healthcare Services, in 2021, before she was elected to Congress. The company had a contract to register people for COVID-19 vaccinations.

Cherfilus-McCormick was arrested in November and then freed on a $60,000 bond. In addition to bail, the judge said Cherfilus-McCormick must surrender her personal passport, and is allowed to travel only between Florida, Washington, D.C., Maryland and the Eastern District of Virginia.

She has been allowed to retain her congressional passport to perform certain duties for her job.

According to the federal indictment, prosecutors said that within two months of receiving the funds in 2021, more than $100,000 had been spent on a 3-carat yellow diamond ring for the congresswoman.

The health care company owned by Cherfilus-McCormick’s family had received payments through a COVID-19 vaccination staffing contract, the indictment says. Her brother, Edwin Cherfilus, requested $50,000, but they mistakenly received $5 million and didn’t return the difference.

Prosecutors said that the funds received by Trinity Healthcare were distributed to various accounts, including those of friends and relatives, who then donated to Cherfilus-McCormick’s congressional campaign.

Cherfilus-McCormick won a special election in January 2022 to represent Florida’s 20th District, which includes parts of Broward and Palm Beach counties, after Rep. Alcee Hastings died in 2021.

The charges she faces include theft of government funds; making and receiving straw donor contributions; aiding and assisting a false and fraudulent statement on a tax return; and money laundering, as well as conspiracy charges associated with each count.