The U.S. House Committee on Ethics announced Tuesday it postponed a public trial for Democratic South Florida Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, who faces allegations of campaign finance violations, code of ethics violations, and violating House rules.
The trial was slated to begin Thursday but has been pushed to March 26.
In a statement, the U.S. House Committee on Ethics reported that Cherfilus-McCormick's lawyer "withdrew from representing her before the adjudicatory subcommittee, and Representative Cherfilus-McCormick asked for a brief continuance to allow her to retain new counsel."
Cherfilus-McCormick, D-Miramar, whose district includes parts of Broward and Palm Beach counties, has been under investigation by the Committee since May 2024. She was indicted last November by a Miami federal grand jury on similar charges.
Earlier this year, the ethics committee filed its Statement of Alleged Violations, in which it found "substantial evidence of conduct consistent with the allegations in the indictment, as well as more extensive misconduct."
READ MORE: Stolen money, straw donors and a diamond ring: The charges against Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick
In a January response, Cherfilus-McCormick's then attorney asked for the committee's investigation to be halted until the DOJ's case was completed, so that Cherfilus-McCormick could "fully participate in the Committee's proceedings." The response also asked for the investigation to be dismissed.
Cherfilus-McCormick's arraignment in the federal trial was delayed twice due to her inability to finalize a legal team. She pleaded not guilty in February.
Federal prosecutors in the criminal case allege that Cherfilus-McCormick and several co-defendants stole federal disaster funds, laundered the proceeds, and used the cash to support her 2021 congressional election campaign.
Cherfilus-McCormick, 46, and her brother Edwin Cherfilus, 51, worked through their family health-care company on a FEMA-funded COVID-19 vaccination staffing contract in 2021, according to the indictment. In July 2021, the company then received an overpayment of $5 million in funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The indictment alleges that the defendants conspired to steal the $5 million and rout it through "multiple accounts to disguise its source."
In declaring she's innocent of any alleged wrongdoing, Cherfilus-McCormick called it an "unjust, baseless, sham indictment."
She was first elected to Congress in 2022 in the 20th District representing parts of Broward and Palm Beach counties in a special election after Rep. Alcee Hastings died in 2021.
Cherfilus-McCormick won a subsequent primary in the heavily Democratic district by five votes. She was reelected without opposition in November 2024.
In Congress, she has been a vocal advocate for Haitian-Americans as co-chair of the Haiti Caucus and a member of the Congressional Black Caucus.
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