WASHINGTON — Lawmakers voted to hold two associates of former Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick in contempt of Congress, accusing them of failing to comply with multiple subpoenas.

The House adopted the resolutions by voice vote Tuesday, referring the matter to the Justice Department for possible criminal prosecution.

While the Florida Democrat resigned from Congress months ago amid a House Ethics Committee probe of her campaign finances, the panel argued it was still important to go ahead with the contempt push.

One of the men, Michael Joseph, is the sitting mayor of North Miami Beach, while the other, Hector Roos, worked on Cherfilus-McCormick’s congressional campaigns in 2021 and 2022. Lawmakers sought documents and testimony from both of them during the course of the ethics investigation into Cherfilus-McCormick.

In a statement last week, the Ethics Committee cited “the imperative to protect the institutional interests of the House by enforcing its subpoenas, without which the House’s investigative proceedings cannot be fully executed.”

On June 18, Joseph’s lawyers sent a response to House Clerk Kevin F. McCumber claiming he was never “personally and properly” served with a subpoena and that there is “no basis” for contempt.

“That Mr. Joseph should now receive a notice that criminal contempt is being sought against him for a questioning that he was willing to provide seven months earlier, but which the Committee staff never properly set (except on one day’s notice); is untenable and unfortunate,” his lawyers wrote.

The Ethics Committee’s report states that Joseph was a “supporter and friend” of Cherfilus-McCormick and helped her raise money for her 2022 reelection.

As for Roos, the panel’s investigative subcommittee on Cherfilus-McCormick had evidence that he “directly discussed campaign finance matters” with the congresswoman and was “substantially involved” in several of the allegations reviewed by the panel. But according to the report, he ignored the panel’s requests and failed to comply.

Cherfilus-McCormick resigned from Congress in April after a rare public ethics “trial” focused on how she had funded her campaigns. She was facing the possibility that her colleagues might recommend she be censured or expelled from the House.

At the time, she called it a “witch hunt” and said she couldn’t fully defend herself because the congressional ethics probe overlapped with a pending criminal case against her, including charges stemming from a federal disaster overpayment to her family’s health company during the pandemic.

Since then, Cherfilus-McCormick made an unsuccessful bid to return to Congress, losing a crowded primary last month in Florida’s 20th District to Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

The Ethics Committee has repeatedly been in the spotlight this year. It has reviewed several high-profile matters, including unrelated allegations of sexual misconduct against several men in the House. Critics have scrutinized its slow-moving investigation process, arguing that members of Congress have few incentives and resources to hold their colleagues accountable.

Both Ethics Chair Michael Guest, R-Miss., and ranking member Mark DeSaulnier, D-Calif., spoke in support of the contempt resolutions Tuesday on the floor.

“At a time when public confidence in Congress is at historic lows, and the House’s ability to self-police member conduct is under intense scrutiny, enforcing lawful congressional process is vital to delivering swift transparency and accountability for any misconduct,” DeSaulnier said.

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