The COVID-19 pandemic created the biggest fraud bonanza in American history.
Criminals stole billions in taxpayer funds meant to help struggling Americans.
And a top Democrat Congresswoman was indicted for this massive pandemic fraud.
Trump's DOJ cracks down on pandemic theft epidemic
Attorney General Pam Bondi just showed what happens when you put America First prosecutors in charge.
Florida Democrat Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick got hit with a federal indictment for stealing $5.7 million in pandemic relief funds.
The scheme perfectly captures everything that went wrong during COVID-19.
Cherfilus-McCormick ran Trinity Health Care Services when the company submitted 17 false invoices to Florida's Department of Emergency Management in 2021 for a FEMA-funded COVID-19 contract.
Those fake invoices — all filed by her brother Edwin Cherfilus — netted the company $5.7 million in taxpayer funds for work Trinity never performed.¹
But the fraud was just getting started.
Cherfilus-McCormick pocketed $6.2 million in "profit sharing" fees from Trinity's stolen pandemic cash.
Then she immediately funneled that money into her Congressional campaign through a series of loans and an illegal straw donor scheme.²
"Using disaster relief funds for self-enrichment is a particularly selfish, cynical crime," Bondi stated. "No one is above the law, least of all powerful people who rob taxpayers for personal gain."³
The Florida Democrat faces up to 53 years in prison.
Pandemic fraud reached unprecedented levels under Biden
The numbers behind pandemic fraud are staggering.
More than $5 trillion in federal pandemic relief funds created the largest fraud opportunity in American history.
The Justice Department's COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force has charged over 3,500 defendants for stealing more than $2 billion.⁴
That's just what they've caught so far.
The Pandemic Response Accountability Committee estimates fraud losses could exceed $200 billion across all COVID relief programs.
Overseas criminal rings, organized gangs, and corrupt politicians all got in on the action.
Fraudsters bought Lamborghinis, Teslas, and mansions with stolen PPP loans while American small businesses collapsed.
The Secret Service has clawed back $1.43 billion in wrongfully obtained funds through more than 5,200 investigations.⁵
But enforcement under Biden was pathetic.
His Justice Department let criminals walk while going after parents at school board meetings and Catholic grandmothers praying at abortion clinics.
Now Trump's team is cleaning up the mess.
Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel made Cherfilus-McCormick's indictment a priority, moving quickly after the Trump administration took over.
Patel immediately announced the charges on social media, making clear the new sheriff in town won't tolerate pandemic theft.
She bought a Congressional seat with stolen disaster money
Here's the truly brazen part of Cherfilus-McCormick's scheme.
She used stolen pandemic relief funds to buy herself a seat in Congress.
The Democrat's campaign raised less than $280,000 from actual donors — meaning people who weren't named Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick.
But she loaned her campaign more than $4.2 million of the allegedly stolen FEMA money.⁶
That stolen cash bought her the Democrat primary in Florida's 20th Congressional District.
By five votes.
Five votes separated Cherfilus-McCormick from losing the December 2021 primary in a safe Democrat seat.
Without money ripped off from pandemic relief funds meant to help suffering Americans, she never would have made it to Congress.
The scheme went deeper than just campaign loans.
Prosecutors revealed Cherfilus-McCormick ran a straw donor operation where she handed portions of the stolen money to friends and family members.
They then cut checks to her campaign pretending it was their own money.⁷
That's textbook money laundering, and the feds have her dead to rights.
She also conspired with her tax preparer to file false returns, claiming political expenses as business deductions and inflating charitable contributions to dodge her tax bill.⁸
Democrats now have three members under federal indictment
Cherfilus-McCormick isn't the only Democrat in Congress facing criminal charges.
Texas Rep. Henry Cuellar was indicted in May 2024 for allegedly accepting $600,000 in bribes from a Mexican bank and Azerbaijan's state oil company.⁹
New Jersey Rep. LaMonica McIver got indicted in June 2025 for allegedly assaulting federal officers during a confrontation at an immigration detention facility.¹⁰
That's three sitting Democrat House members under federal indictment.
For comparison, that's the same number as the entire Republican delegation from Illinois.
And Democrats aren't moving to expel any of them.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries responded to Cherfilus-McCormick's indictment by saying she deserves her "day in court" and the presumption of innocence.¹¹
Republicans expelled George Santos before he was convicted of anything, showing they put country over party.
Democrats circle the wagons around their own no matter what they're accused of stealing.
The message is clear: the Trump administration is finally holding corrupt politicians accountable for pandemic fraud while Democrats protect their own.
Watchdog attorney Dan Backer, who filed the original criminal referral against Cherfilus-McCormick, told reporters the scheme represents "brazen, unmitigated corruption of the worst order."¹²
Americans who followed the rules and struggled through lockdowns while politicians and criminals looted pandemic relief funds finally have a Justice Department willing to prosecute the thieves.
Bondi's DOJ is just getting started cleaning up the Biden-era mess.
¹ Andrew Kerr, "Florida Congresswoman Indicted for Stealing $5 Million in Taxpayer Funds To Bankroll Her Campaign," Washington Free Beacon, November 19, 2025.
² Ibid.
³ U.S. Department of Justice, "U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick Charged with Stealing Federal Disaster Funds," DOJ Press Release, November 19, 2025.
⁴ U.S. Department of Justice, "COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force Releases 2024 Report," DOJ Archives, April 9, 2024.
⁵ Anthony M. Bracco, et al., "Update on COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force 2024 Report," Anchin, Block & Anchin LLP, May 9, 2025.
⁶ Andrew Kerr, "Florida Congresswoman Indicted for Stealing $5 Million in Taxpayer Funds To Bankroll Her Campaign," Washington Free Beacon, November 19, 2025.
⁷ U.S. Department of Justice, "U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick Charged with Stealing Federal Disaster Funds," DOJ Press Release, November 19, 2025.
⁸ Ibid.
⁹ Stephanie Lai, "Henry Cuellar Indicted in Alleged International Bribery Scheme," Rolling Stone, May 3, 2024.
¹⁰ Bill Chappell, "LaMonica McIver is indicted for impeding federal officers," NPR, June 11, 2025.
¹¹ Kevin Breuninger, "House Democrat Sheila Cherfilis-McCormick charged with stealing $5M in Covid aid funds," CNBC, November 19, 2025.
¹² Andrew Kerr, "Florida Congresswoman Indicted for Stealing $5 Million in Taxpayer Funds To Bankroll Her Campaign," Washington Free Beacon, November 19, 2025.
