Miramar congresswoman received cash from Haitian oil company, report says
A House Ethics Committee report accusing Miramar Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick of funneling oil-linked money through shell organizations has intensified legal and political scrutiny already surrounding the South Florida Democrat, the Miami Herald reported.
Investigators allege $810,000 tied to Haitian oil company PetroGaz-Haiti, registered in Fort Lauderdale, was routed through political groups and secretly benefited her successful 2022 congressional campaign, according to the bipartisan ethics findings.
The Miami Herald reports the investigation details how campaign advisers connected the congresswoman to the North Miami mayor and the owner of the Haitin oil company, raising new concerns about campaign finance violations as Cherfilus-McCormick first sought her seat and her historic role as Florida’s first Haitian-American member of Congress.
Last week, the 47-year-old congresswoman pleaded not guilty in Miami federal court to charges that she used a $5 million COVID-19 relief overpayment sent to her family’s Miramar health care company to present herself to voters as a successful, self-funded businesswoman ahead of a 2021 special election to replace the late Alcee Hastings in Congress.
She defeated former Broward County Mayor Dale Holeness in the Democratic primary by just five votes. Holeness is running against her this year.
The ethics findings build on the existing federal criminal charges and raise new concerns about campaign finance violations, local political relationships and the future of federal projects in Broward County, the Miami Herald reported.
The bipartisan report, released Jan. 29, concluded there was “substantial evidence” that Cherfilus-McCormick could be charged with violating campaign finance laws, federal ethics requirements and House rules.
Cherfilus-McCormick, who lives in Miramar but does not represent the district, denies wrongdoing and says the investigation is politically motivated. A public ethics hearing is scheduled for March 5.
Cherfilus-McCormick rejects the ethics findings, calling them politically motivated.
“The report is being deliberately misconstrued and mischaracterized, with a substantial amount of information left out to manufacture a particular narrative,” Cherfilus-McCormick said in a statement to the Miami Herald. “Republicans are weaponizing the ethics process to steal the seat.”
According to the ethics report, the congresswoman’s relationship with PetroGaz-Haiti began in late April 2022, after North Miami Beach Mayor Michael Joseph arranged a meet-and-greet between Cherfilus-McCormick and the company’s owner, the Herald reported.
The committee said investigators “received evidence” that Joseph arranged that meeting but did not provide further details.
Four days later, either PetroGaz-Haiti or its owner (the report is unclear) wrote the first in a string of checks totaling $810,000 to a political organization chaired by Joseph, the Herald reported.
The organization then gave most of those funds to a separate, now-defunct group that helped fund the congresswoman’s 2022 campaign without disclosing its spending, according to House investigators.
PetroGaz-Haiti had one source of income at the time: $12.5 million from Haiti’s Ministry of Economy and Finance, according to the report and the Herald.
PetroGaz-Haiti S.A. is registered to Broward voter Frederic Elusma, according to Florida corporate filings. Its website is no longer functional, though the company remains an active Florida corporation.
Elusma, who is also the registered owner of NABI Energy Holdings, based in Trinidad, did not respond to requests for comment. A Miami Herald reporter visited a Hallandale Beach condominium where he is listed and left a message, the outlet reported.
In Haiti, PetroGaz-Haiti S.A. is a politically connected public limited company, locally known as a Societe Anonyme. Its shareholders are secret, but it counts among them former Haitian Sen. Rony Célestin.
Célestin told the Miami Herald he does not know anything about Elusma’s payments and does not have a relationship with the congresswoman.
