{"id":2580,"date":"2026-07-02T18:01:52","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T18:01:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=2580"},"modified":"2026-07-02T18:01:52","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T18:01:52","slug":"congress-targets-north-miami-beach-mayor-over-cherfilus-mccormick-investigation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=2580","title":{"rendered":"Congress targets North Miami Beach mayor over Cherfilus-McCormick investigation"},"content":{"rendered":"<article><!-- --><!-- --><!-- WPS-5038 -- removed the script from WPS and added the placeholder for trinity player --><!-- --><!-- --><!-- --><!-- --><!-- --><!-- --><!-- CONTENT --><!--[--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>The U.S. House Ethics Committee is recommending that North Miami Beach Mayor Michael Joseph be held in criminal contempt of Congress \u2014 and wants those charges  referred to the Department of Justice \u2014 for not helping with its investigation into former Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=2578\">Shark diving tourism off Florida coast could nose dive if feeding ban passes<\/a><\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>The Ethics Committee is asking for a full House vote on whether Joseph should be \u201cfound to be in contempt of Congress for his failure to comply\u201d with subpoenas for documents and testimony about Cherfilus-McCormick.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>The House is currently in recess and returns in mid-July, when Speaker Mike Johnson could put the matter up for a vote. If the House approves the committee\u2019s recommendation, and the Department of Justice decides to pursue charges, Joseph could face a fine of up to $100,000 and prison time for up to a year.<\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Joseph did not respond to a request for comment from the Miami Herald about the committee\u2019s recommendation.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>He was prominently featured in a House Ethics Committee report earlier this year accusing Cherfilus-McCormick of impermissibly funnelling corporate contributions from a politically connected oil company called Petrogaz-Haiti into her campaign.<\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p><b>READ MORE:<\/b> House Ethics Committee charges Cherfilus-McCormick with 25 counts of misconduct<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=2576\">A Miami connection will be on the feet of a soccer star during Argentina match<\/a><\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>According to that report, Joseph arranged a meet-and-greet between Cherfilus McCormick and the company\u2019s owner. Four days later, Petrogaz-Haiti or its owner \u2014 the report is unclear \u2014 wrote the first in a string of checks that totaled $810,000 to a political organization chaired by Joseph.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>The organization turned around and gave most of those funds to a separate, now-defunct group that helped fund the congresswoman\u2019s 2022 campaign without disclosing its spending, according to House investigators.<\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe deserves her day in court,\u201d Joseph said in a statement to the Herald in February about that report. \u201cI believe she is being unfairly targeted because one seat makes a difference for which political party controls the U.S. House of Representatives.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>A spokesperson for Cherfilus-McCormick \u2014 who resigned from her seat but is running for reelection in Florida\u2019s 20th District \u2014 declined to comment.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Criminal charges from contempt of Congress referrals are rare. The House held 10 people in criminal contempt of Congress between 2008 and 2023, according to a Congressional Research Service report. The Department of Justice indicted just two of those people, including Steve Bannon in 2022, who was sentenced to four months in prison and fined $6,500.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=2575\">A former \u2018RHOM\u2019 star as been engaged for years. There\u2019s a big update<\/a><\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--]--><!-- --><!-- --><!-- --><!-- --><\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The House Ethics Committee recommends referring contempt charges against North Miami Beach Mayor Michael Joseph to the DOJ over the Cherfilus-McCormick probe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2579,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2580","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-florida-politics"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Congress targets North Miami Beach mayor over Cherfilus-McCormick investigation - Florida Moving Chronicle<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=2580\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Congress targets North Miami Beach mayor over Cherfilus-McCormick investigation - 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