Welcome home, fellow Gator.

The Gator Nation's oldest and most active insider community
Join today!

Cherfilus-McCormick still silent on $5.8M overpayment and campaign finance investigation

Discussion in 'Too Hot for Swamp Gas' started by flgator2, Mar 27, 2025.

  1. Mar 27, 2025 #1
    flgator2

    flgator2 GC Hall of Fame

    7,520
    800
    2,113
    Apr 3, 2007
    Gainesville
    Cherfilus-McCormick still silent on $5.8M overpayment and campaign finance investigation

    CBS12 News has spent months trying to get answers from Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick regarding a $5.8 million overpayment her company, Trinity Health Care Services, received from the State of Florida. According to the state, it mistakenly overpaid Trinity while Cherfilus-McCormick was the CEO. Now, the state wants that money back and claims the congresswoman’s company never responded to its requests.

    The state of Florida has filed a lawsuit to recover the overpaid funds, explaining that it was supposed to pay Trinity $50,578.50 but, due to a clerical error, mistakenly paid over $5 million. The lawsuit states: "Trinity accepted this payment that was 100 times greater than it knew it should have received." The claim is now in mediation in Leon County, where the Department of Emergency Management is headquartered.

    Simultaneously, a congressional ethics investigation is examining potential campaign finance irregularities involving Cherfilus-McCormick, including the source of millions of dollars she personally loaned to her campaign. In 2021, shortly after the state claims it overpaid Trinity, Cherfilus-McCormick’s campaign manager boasted about her finances, stating that she was self-funding her campaign.

    Campaign records reveal that less than one percent of the money she spent on her 2021 campaign came from individual donations, with 88%—nearly four million dollars—being self-financed.

    Amazing another crooked politician
     
    • Fistbump/Thanks! Fistbump/Thanks! x 1
  2. Mar 27, 2025 #2
    Gatorrick22

    Gatorrick22 GC Hall of Fame

    90,313
    27,225
    4,613
    Apr 3, 2007
    More to come... Waters is in big doo-doo with Musk for her comments about the first lady and the suggestion that she should be deported.
     
    • Informative Informative x 1
  3. Mar 27, 2025 #3
    gaterzfan

    gaterzfan GC Hall of Fame

    2,303
    476
    1,713
    Feb 6, 2020
    Well, the politician's company shouldn't have kept the overpayment but dang .... the state simply has to do better than that. There must be control systems in place to prevent such an egregious "clerical error" from ever happening.
     
    • Agree Agree x 3
    • Fistbump/Thanks! Fistbump/Thanks! x 1
  4. Mar 27, 2025 #4
    demosthenes

    demosthenes Premium Member

    9,909
    1,276
    3,218
    Apr 3, 2007
    Amazing how stupid people can be. Did she actually think this wouldn’t eventually be caught and have to be repaid? Apparently the answer is “yes.” She actually reported an income of $6M that year.

    Link with more detail on the two payments (I get the decimal point mistake in the first overpayment but not why the state sent an additional 3/4 million payment).
    chevron-right
     
  5. Mar 27, 2025 #5
    mikemcd810

    mikemcd810 Premium Member

    2,060
    461
    348
    Apr 3, 2007
    You'd think that even the CEO wouldn't be able to unilaterally misuse company funds like that, but maybe she was able to because the funds were never supposed to be sent to the company? I certainly hope the congressional ethics committee refers this to the appropriate legal authorities as well. Pretty sad that she was able to get away with this for four years and it wasn't flagged immediately.

    As part of her congressional ethics investigation into campaign finance irregularities, she reported her income from Trinity increased by $6 million from $80,000 in 2021.

    Also, just days after Trinity was overpaid by five million dollars, Cherfilus-McCormick personally loaned her congressional campaign committee $2 million. And she reported making more large loans after that.

    She stepped down as CEO during her campaign.

    chevron-right
     
  6. Mar 27, 2025 #6
    wgbgator

    wgbgator Premium Member

    31,748
    2,075
    2,218
    Apr 19, 2007
    This is a state that made Rick Scott governor and a senator, so its not even an irrational assumption that even if caught, what's the worse that could happen ... get elected to higher office?
     
    • Creative Creative x 1