A three-time Democratic candidate for the Virginia House of Delegates pleaded guilty this week to making multiple false statements in pursuit of loans from federal COVID-19 relief programs — as well as not paying her taxes.

Realtor Sheila Bynum-Coleman vied three times to become a state representative for a district that encompassed south Chesterfield and Colonial Heights. She ran a longshot campaign in 2015, a more competitive campaign in 2017, and finally received the full backing of Virginia Democrats in a third unsuccessful campaign in 2019.

It was shortly after that last defeat — a $1.5 million campaign — that Bynum-Coleman and her husband, Rashad H. Coleman, began defrauding the federal government, prosecutors alleged last March. A white-collar crime division at Richmond’s U.S. Attorney’s Office, in conjunction with the IRS, found a set of fraudulent tax returns they said Bynum-Coleman used to cook up fake business. Those businesses pulled $220,000 in loans from multiple federal sources, prosecutors alleged.

In September, prosecutors added new charges — including that the Colemans had told the Virginia Employment Commission that they were unemployed and had not received any other paycheck protection funds, allowing them to pull another $25,000. Prosecutors also added that the pair didn’t pay federal taxes in 2020.

The money, prosecutors said, went towards luxury clothing and paying down the pair’s personal debts. And a $10,000 tranche of money drawn from a Paycheck Protection Program loan went to a campaign account, “Friends of Sheila for Delegate.”

Bynum-Coleman initially pleaded not guilty, and for months the case was on track for a jury trial. A lawyer for the Colemans sought to impeach the credibility of a tax professional whom the government was preparing to call as a witness, court records show.

On Thursday, however, Bynum-Coleman switched course and pleaded guilty to one felony charge of making false statements and another misdemeanor related to tax evasion. Bynum-Coleman will be sentenced this summer.

Sadiq Gill, her counsel, said Bynum-Coleman takes “complete responsibility” for her actions.

“Mrs. Bynum-Coleman is focused on rehabilitation, her family and continued community service. As a longtime activist and volunteer, she plans to utilize reentry supports in Richmond and demonstrate — through consistent positive actions — that accountability and second chances can lead to meaningful change,” read a statement Gill shared on her behalf.

Bynum-Coleman did not plead guilty to a more serious charge of fraud, which likely will be dropped after her sentencing in June.

The case was prosecuted by a team led by Richmond prosecutor Avi Panth. Panth recently secured a nine-year sentence for the former deputy director of the Virginia Birth Injury Fund after he embezzled approximately $7 million from a program meant for severely disabled children.

At one point in trial proceedings, Bynum-Coleman’s lawyer sought to block the jury from seeing evidence of commingling between his client’s campaign account and unemployment funds.

Bynum-Coleman’s lawyer argued that “portraying Bynum-Coleman — a Black female candidate in a diverse district — as siphoning pandemic relief for political ambition risks visceral juror outrage, evoking stereotypes of corruption and racial/gender bias and inviting guilty by association through implications of ‘dirty politics.’”

But prosecutors fought that request, calling the transfer a “crystalline” example of her improper use of the federal relief money. On Tuesday, Judge Hannah M. Lauck, who is overseeing the case, agreed that the evidence was not unfairly prejudicial and denied Bynum-Coleman’s request.

Two days later, the defendants entered their guilty pleas.

The plea marks the second run-in with the law in the wake of Bynum-Coleman’s foray into politics. In 2020, prosecutors in Henrico County charged her with disseminating photos of a woman who had a brief relationship with her husband. Henrico prosecutors said the photos were found taped to a stop sign outside the school of the woman’s son, and described the case as “revenge porn.”

That case was also concluded with a guilty plea and a requirement to complete 200 hours of community service.

Bynum-Coleman was appointed by Gov. Terry McAuliffe to the state’s Board for Contractors in 2016.

https://www.pilotonline.com/2026/02/07/sheila-bynum-coleman-fraud-guilty-plea/