Florida Overpaid U.S. Rep’s Company $6M. Then She Used the Money to Run for Congress

Back in March 2021, as the nation marked one year of battling COVID-19, Florida’s Division of Emergency Management hired the Miramar-based company Trinity Health Care Services to register people for COVID-19 vaccines.

That spring, Trinity sent the state an invoice of $50,578.50. But while it intended to pay Trinity that amount, it seemingly fudged the decimal mark and instead paid the company a whopping $5,057,850.00 — an overpayment of five million bucks, according to a recent lawsuit filed by the state against Trinity.

Filed in Leon County civil court, the suit claims the $5 million was just one of several overpayments that added up to more than $5.7 million.

While the state sent Trinity a letter in June 2024 demanding repayment, the suit alleges the healthcare company has ultimately refused to return the money.

"Trinity took advantage of the state of emergency the entire country was encountering due to the COVID-19 pandemic and knowingly processed an invoice more than 100 times its typical invoice size," according to the state's lawsuit.

And there appears to be another twist in the story.

Enter: South Florida U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick.

Records from the Federal Election Commission (FEC) show that after the state signed the contract with Trinity and the overpayment occurred, Cherfilus-McCormick — who was Trinity's CEO at the time — went on to loan her campaign a staggering $6.2 million, which she then used to win a 2022 congressional race against Republican Drew-Montez Clark.

According to FEC records, the Democrat loaned herself millions of dollars for the 2022 congressional campaign across more than 100 payments during the 2021-2022 campaign cycle.
Records show the payments ranged from $7, given to her campaign on June 1, 2021, to $2 million, which she paid the campaign weeks later on June 24, 2021.

Cherfilus-McCormick reportedly stepped down as CEO from Trinity in 2021 when she ran for Congress. The current CEO appears to be her brother, Edwin Cherfilus.

In response to an email seeking comment about the lawsuit, Edwin Cherfilus tells New Times that he has been "advised not to make any comments." His attorney also declined to comment, citing the active litigation.

The lawsuit against Trinity comes on the heels of an unrelated ethics report that concluded Cherfilus-McCormick may have violated U.S. House rules with her campaign activities.

The report, released on January 2, found that Cherfilus-McCormick’s income swelled by more than $6 million between 2020 and 2021, partly thanks to nearly $5.75 million in what she reported as "consulting fees and profit-sharing fees received for work for Trinity Health Care Services."

The House Ethics Committee hasn't acted on the report.

Cherfilus-McCormick, who represents Florida's 20th congressional district, is the first Black legislator to represent the district, which includes swaths of western and central Broward County and a portion of Palm Beach County.

She was first elected to Congress in 2022 to represent the 20th District after longtime Rep. Alcee Hastings died in 2021. Cherfilus-McCormick won the primary in the heavily Democratic district by five votes, and was re-elected without opposition this past November.

A spokesperson for Cherfilus-McCormick's office declined New Times' request for comment, noting that this "is not an official matter."

The congresswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment via direct message on Twitter, formerly known as X.