A healthcare company formerly led by Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-FL) is being sued by the state of Florida after the government overpaid the company more than $5 million in loans during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2021, Florida’s Division of Emergency Management loaned money to South Florida’s Trinity Health Care Services to register people for COVID-19 vaccinations. According to the lawsuit, the state meant to pay the amount of $50,578.50. Due to a decimal error, however, the state instead paid $5,057,850.00 to Trinity, $5 million more than the company was slated to be given.
“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,” the state’s lawsuit reads.
The CEO of the company at the time of the contract was Cherfilus-McCormick, who is now a member of Congress and currently the subject of an unrelated House ethics complaint.
According to the invoices attached to the lawsuit, many invoices were submitted and paid in 2021 totaling over $5.7 million given to the company from the state.
“Part of the responsibilities of doing business with the State of Florida is the requirement to return any monies received in error,” Stephanie Houp, FDEM’s deputy executive director and general counsel, wrote in that letter.
The state argues that Trinity, as a contractor, “was required to return any overpayments of invoices for work not actually performed and money not actually owed.”
The state of Florida is suing the company for damages, interest, attorneys’ fees, costs, and other relief.
After the death of former Rep. Alcee Hastings, Cherfilus-McCormick ran for office in a 2022 special election, which she won. Her campaign was largely self-funded.
According to campaign finance records, she donated over $6 million to her own campaign for both the special election and regular election between the years of 2021 to 2022. For the special election, she far outspent other Democrats in the race, loaning her campaign more than $3.7 million. Of the $6,779,418.80 she raised over two years, $6,236,493.50 of that came from herself.
During the 2024 campaign cycle, she loaned just $5,000 to her own campaign.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
The House Ethics complaint that she is facing alleges that Cherfilus-McCormick made “impermissible payments” to a state PAC that then paid various vendors and her unofficial campaign manager, who was allegedly “heavily involved” in communications from her congressional office but was not paid with official funds.
The Washington Examiner reached out to Cherfilus-McCormick for comment but did not receive a response.
Democrat’s former company sued by Florida over $5 million overpayment
