A report containing findings by the Office of Congressional Ethics, released Thursday, provides details of multiple campaign transactions and official government office activities by U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick that investigators said may have violated House rules and federal law.

The Broward-Palm Beach county Democrat, first elected in a January 2022 special election, has been under investigation for almost her entire time in Congress. An investigative subcommittee of the House Ethics Committee has been working on the case for more than a year, but has not taken any public action.

The document released on Thursday is the Office of Congressional Ethics “findings of fact and citations to law” about its investigation that prompted the Ethics Committee to begin its own inquiry and set up the investigative subcommittee.

The 576 pages of materials — including the findings of fact and copies of campaign finance reports, interview transcripts, bank statements and text message exchanges — were released because of a deadline in U.S. House rules.

Cherfilus-McCormick said through a spokesperson that the newly released document does not mean she has done anything wrong.

The findings, released along with supporting documents, said Cherfilus-McCormick did not cooperate with the Office of Congressional Ethics investigation. Neither did her campaign organization, her relatives, or Mark Goodrich, a political consultant described in the report as her de facto campaign manager in 2021 and 2022 and someone who did work for her congressional office after she was elected.

The Office of Congressional Ethics said it relied on information from interviews with and documents provided by others, along with text messages and emails to and from the congresswoman. Some of those interviewed were named; another eight were identified with labels such as “Staffer 1” and “Witness 2.”

In a statement, Cherfilus-McCormick said: “As stated in the Committee’s public statement, the investigative subcommittee has not concluded its review of the allegations, and the release of OCE’s Findings is simply a result of the House investigative process. The fact that the allegations were referred for further review does not indicate any violation has occurred. I plan on continuing to collaborate with the Committee and its Investigative Subcommittee.”

Goodrich didn’t immediately respond Thursday to an email sent to an address he used in 2022.

Findings

In its findings, the Office of Congressional Ethics indicated “there is substantial reason to believe” four allegations involving Cherfilus-McCormick, her campaign or her congressional office.

— State PAC Payments. The office said there was substantial reason to believe she “made payments to a state political action committee in connection with her campaign and failed to report these payments as contributions to her campaign.”

It said SCM Consulting Group, owned by Cherfilus-McCormick, made 30 payments totaling $269,424 during the 2021-2022 special election campaign to Leadership in Action PAC. The report described Goodrich as Leadership in Action’s “executive director” and also said he “appears to have been functionally responsible for the PAC.”

During that time Leadership in Action made $116,794 in payments to Goodrich, the report said, and SCM Consulting accounted for the “vast majority” of Leadership in Action’s contributions.

The report said Goodrich “effectively served” as her campaign manager and Leadership in Action “also made payments to vendors” on behalf of her campaign.

The office said the payments to the PAC may have violated federal reporting requirements and, if the money was not from her “personal funds,” could have violated limits on the size of campaign contributions.

In 2021 and 2022, the Federal Election Commission website shows that individual contributions were limited to $2,900 for each primary or election.

— Services received. The office said there was substantial reason to believe her congressional office “received services related to franked communications and other official work from an individual who was not compensated with official funds.”

Franked communications are the official, government-paid mass communication from a member of the House to constituents, often in the form of newsletters.

The findings said Goodrich was extensively involved in the preparation and placement of the franked communications, including multiple mailers and television and radio spots, which were considered official business, even though he wasn’t on the government payroll.

— Excessive contributions. The report said there was substantial reason to believe her campaign committee “accepted and failed to report contributions exceeding contribution limits.” The report said it couldn’t determine the source of some political spending, whether it came from her personal funds or a business.

If they weren’t personal funds, the report said the contributions would have been subject to federal campaign contribution limits.

It said the timing, scale and sources of money “warrant further review.” The report, citing financial disclosures, said Cherfilus-McCormick reported her income increasing by more than $6 million between 2020 and 2021.

— Unreported transactions. The report said there was substantial reason to believe her campaign committee “failed to report transactions between the campaign committee’s bank account and Rep. Cherfilus-McCormick’s business’ bank accounts.” In a separate section, the report said the office “found evidence of transactions between Rep Cherfilus-McCormick’s campaign committee and her businesses that were not reported” on federal campaign finance filings.

The office said it identified “three instances in which apparent transfers” between Cherfilus-McCormick’s campaign bank account and her business’ accounts were not reported on federal campaign finance reports, including a $25,294 payment from the campaign to “EC Firm,” a Florida limited liability company half owned by Cherfilus-McCormick with her brother as the registered agent and manager.

Edwin Cherfilus told the office that the money was withdrawn from her corporate equity account but that she opted to return the funds back to her equity account. The report said the campaign reported making a payment to the EC Firm — but didn’t report receiving the money in the first place.

The office said it “obtained” documents showing $88,828 was transferred from the campaign committee to SCM Consulting, the limited liability company wholly owned by the future congresswoman, in June 2021. But it said the campaign didn’t report an expenditure on that date to Cherfilus-McCormick or her company.

It also cited one of the loans Cherfilus-McCormick reported making to her campaign, $10,000 on Aug. 17, 2021. On the same date, it said documents show a $10,000 transfer from the campaign to SCM Consulting but that the transfer wasn’t reported.

Campaign manager

The office said that “much” of its review concerned “conduct involving” Goodrich. It described him as her campaign manager in 2021 and 2022.

“Although an individual named Willis P. Howard officially held the title of campaign manager with respect to Rep. Cherfilus-McCormick’s campaigns, Mark Goodrich appears to have actually managed the campaigns … Multiple witnesses understood Mark Goodrich — not Willis P. Howard — to be the campaign manager.”

The activities the report cited included the payments from the limited liability company to the state PAC and services he provided to her official office after Cherfilus-McCormick was sworn in as a member of Congress.

The report said after she was elected, Goodrich performed work for Cherfilus-McCormick’s official office, including on the franked communications to constituents even though she did not report compensating him with official funds. “At the same time Mark Goodrich was providing these services to Rep. Cherfilus-McCormick’s congressional office, he was also overseeing her campaign for reelection.”

During her 2022 reelection campaign, the report said a Florida corporation paid more than $150,000 for campaign mailers on behalf of the campaign “apparently at Mark Goodrich’s direction” but her campaign did not report the payments as contributions, and the payments exceeded federal limits on campaign contributions.

The report said a Florida company, Truth & Justice Inc., made three wire transfers totaling more than $150,000 to a graphics and printing vendor for mailers ordered by Cherfilus-McCormick’s 2022 reelection campaign. It said Goodrich was executive director of Truth & Justice Inc. It said the payments to the vendor “apparently directed by Mark Goodrich, came at a time when the campaign’s cash on hand was highly variable.”

That may mean, the report said, that the campaign accepted and failed to report contributions from Truth & Justice that exceeded federal campaign limits.

The $150,288 in payments from Truth & Justice to the vendor, Image Plus Graphics, were made during a few weeks in July and August 2022. The report said documents filed with the Federal Election Commission ‘reflect that the campaign’s coffers were largely depleted by the beginning of July 2022” with cash on hand of $837 “despite the numerous loans that Rep. Cherfilus-McCormick made to her campaign during this time.”

Cherfilus-McCormick

Cherfilus-McCormick, 45, is the only Haitian American member of Congress, and has been outspoken about trying to find solutions to turmoil in the Caribbean nation.

She was first elected in a January 2022 special election to fill the vacancy created the year before by the death of the late U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings.

That victory came after she narrowly won a hotly contested Democratic primary in November 2022 by just five votes. She had never been elected before, but had previously run in primaries when Hastings was still in office.

The congresswoman was elected to a full term in November 2022. No Democratic primary challenger or Republican general election challenger came forward to run against Cherfilus-McCormick in 2024, making her the only one of Florida’s 28 members of Congress returned to office without facing a primary or general election.

The congresswoman represents the 20th Congressional District, which takes in most of the Black American and Caribbean American communities in Broward and Palm Beach counties.

Before her election, she was CEO of Trinity Health Care Services, a home health care agency owned by her family.

Ethics process

The unresolved ethics referral was released Thursday under House rules, which provide for a complicated process to deal with ethical questions about members.

The Office of Congressional Ethics refers complaints about representatives to the House Ethics Committee.

In this case, the Ethics Committee established an investigative subcommittee to look into the matter. Under the rules, if no action has taken place, a summary of the referral is publicly released if there’s no resolution one year after the referral. The summary was released on Sept. 25, 2024.

If there is no action at the end of a congressional session, the entire set of findings is released.

A session lasts for two years. Under the Constitution the last full day of the 118th Congress was Thursday; the 119th Congress begins its two-year term at noon on Friday.

A second Office of Congressional Ethics referral about Cherfilus-McCormick was sent to the Ethics Committee on May 29, 2024. The Ethics Committee assigned the matter to the already established investigative subcommittee.

Under the rules — unless they’re changed by the newly sworn-in House — if there is no action one year after that referral, a summary would be released on May 29, 2025. If there’s still no action, the entire referral would be released at the end of the 119th Congress, which concludes on Jan. 3, 2027.

The Ethics Committee, which includes Democratic and Republican members, conducts its business behind closed doors. Its public statements are typically brief. Thursday’s statement accompanying the document release was four paragraphs and said that “No other public comment will be made on this matter except in accordance with Committee rules.”

The Office of Congressional Ethics has its own staff and is governed by an six-member board, plus two alternates, of private citizens who aren’t members of Congress and don’t work for the federal government. Half the board is appointed by the House speaker and half by the minority party leader.

©2025 South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Visit sun-sentinel.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.