Former Las Vegas City Councilwoman Michele Fiore was convicted of federal fraud charges Thursday after she used donations intended for a fallen police officer’s memorial for her personal gain, marking a downfall for the firebrand conservative who nearly became Nevada’s treasurer two years ago.
A Las Vegas jury convicted Fiore, 54, of six counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Each count carries a maximum sentence of 20 years imprisonment. She will be sentenced Jan. 6 and had little reaction as Judge Jennifer Dorsey read the verdict.
Michael Sanft, Fiore’s lawyer, said after the verdict that they will be exploring any possible appeal options but are now focused on sentencing. Fiore declined to answer most questions from reporters because she said the case is not complete yet. She reaffirmed that there are facts that the jury and public are unaware of related to the case, but she declined to elaborate on what those are.
The verdict culminated a trial that included testimony from dozens of witnesses, including Gov. Joe Lombardo, FBI agents, local business owners and Fiore’s daughter. Fiore declined to testify.
The case centered on the construction of a statue honoring Alyn Beck, a Las Vegas police officer killed in the line of duty in 2014. Federal prosecutors accused Fiore — across six months in 2019 and 2020 while serving as a councilwoman — of soliciting donations to her PAC and nonprofit for the construction of the statue but using the money for personal use, including her rent, plastic surgery and another daughter’s wedding.
“She never cared about Officer Beck’s memory or his sacrifice,” federal prosecutor Alexander Gottfried said in his closing argument Thursday. “She took those donors’ money. She took it from people who were trying to do a good thing.”
Sanft argued that the prosecution’s evidence was not beyond a reasonable doubt — the level needed to prove guilt — because they did not have receipts of all the monetary transactions in the case and that Fiore’s signature was never listed on any of the involved transactions. He also heavily scrutinized the FBI’s search of Fiore’s home in 2021, arguing it was sloppy, beyond the scope of the investigation and sought to improperly portray Fiore as living a lavish lifestyle.
A real estate group, Olympia Companies, originally agreed to pay for half of the statue but ultimately footed the entire bill, according to testimony from Chris Armstrong, a company executive. The statue’s sculptor also testified that Fiore never gave money for the memorial.
Several witnesses testified that Fiore had pledged to use their donations to fund the statue, but that they were never contacted about the money no longer being needed, and that they were not fully reimbursed. Others who testified about giving money to Fiore for the statue included Tommy White, the secretary-treasurer of Laborers Local 872, attorney Peter Palivos and former Henderson Mayor Robert Groesbeck.
Included in the evidence was a letter from Fiore in October 2019 — which prosecutors said came after she was aware the statue would not need a funding source — seeking donations and pledging that 100 percent would be used to fund the statue.
This letter was recovered in the search of Fiore’s home — which Fiore’s lawyer said was proof that it was never actually released, but several donors testified that they had received similar requests for donations from Fiore. A request for a donation to White, whose union represents Las Vegas construction workers, was sent in February 2020, days after the statue had been unveiled to the public.
Following the money
In several instances, Fiore’s nonprofit and PAC transferred money (that prosecutors said were meant for the memorial) to her daughter, Sheena Siegel — and on the same day, payments in similar amounts were made to entities associated with Fiore’s personal life, according to bank records provided by the prosecution.
For example, on Aug. 29, 2019, a $3,700 check was written from Fiore’s PAC to Siegel. That same day, prosecutors argued that Siegel cashed that check and someone made a $3,620 payment to Fiore’s plastic surgeon.
Exactly two months later, Fiore wrote two checks from her nonprofit: one for $4,500 to Hamlet Events, Siegel’s event planning company, and the otherfor $5,000. That same day, someone makes a $5,000 payment to a company providing services for her daughter’s wedding, which was approaching.
One week later, Siegel took $4,500 out of the Hamlet Events account and the same day, a $4,500 payment was made to the wedding vendor.
“She was spending money as soon as it came in,” Gottfried said in closing arguments.
In addition, Lombardo testified that Fiore had contacted him (while he was Clark County sheriff) seeking donations for the statue. His campaign account sent a $5,000 check to Fiore’s PAC, and an FBI agent testified that shortly after, $5,000 was transferred to Fiore’s daughter’s account to purchase a money order covering Fiore’s rent.
However, receipts for all of these transactions were not available, a result of the payments likely being made in cash. Therefore, Fiore’s lawyer argued, there was not sufficient evidence that money intended for the fallen officer’s memorial was used for Fiore’s personal use.
“They want you to make that leap, and say ‘OK, it fits the timing, so as a result, it’s beyond a reasonable doubt,” Sanft said in his closing argument Thursday.
The prosecution did, however, have evidence of where Fiore’s nonprofit and PAC spent its money over the course of the roughly six-month period covering the charges. Records showed that the nonprofit — A Bright Present Foundation — paid about $77,000 in expenses, including more than $23,000 to Hamlet Events, nearly $14,000 to Siegel and more than $7,000 to Fiore’s political consulting company.
Fiore did reimburse one donor — Las Vegas lobbyist Jay Brown — about $17,000 through her nonprofit, but another approximately $10,000 was not reimbursed.
In his closing argument, Sanft posed a slew of hypothetical questions to jurors, raising the question of where this money finally ended up. He also cast doubt on the allegations that Fiore used the donations to pay rent and for her daughter’s wedding, arguing that the rent checks were incomplete and questioning why the bride and the groom at the involved wedding were never asked to testify.
End of a political career?
Fiore first entered the Nevada political world in 2012 by winning a race for state Assembly and quickly rose up the ranks, but she lost leadership positions before the 2015 session amid controversy regarding more than $1 million in tax liens.
In 2016, she ran for Nevada’s 3rd Congressional District, finishing third in the GOP primary. A year later, she successfully ran to represent Ward 6 on the Las Vegas City Council, eventually becoming the city’s mayor pro tempore, a position she held until her 2020 resignation. Her resignation came after she allegedly said that “If there’s a job opening and my white ass is more qualified than somebody’s black ass, then my white ass should get the job,” though Fiore denied that being the reason for her resignation.
She was also sued by fellow City Councilwoman Victoria Seaman, who alleged Fiore created a hostile workplace and physically attacked her. Seaman was among the victims in the federal fraud case, though she did not testify.
In 2022, she narrowly lost a bid for state treasurer — during which she appeared in a campaign ad shooting beer bottles with the labels “vaccine mandate” and “CRT” (critical race theory), and said she didn’t mind people bringing guns into courtrooms because “an armed society is a polite society.” Shortly after, she was appointed as a justice of the peace in rural Nye County, winning another term outright this year.
She’s also no stranger to the spotlight.
In 2015, she released a gun-themed calendar and was particularly outspoken in support of the Bundy ranching family, who were at the center of the infamous standoff regarding cattle grazing on federal land. Following her fraud indictment, Fiore accused prosecutors of engaging in the same type of misconduct as they did related to the Bundy family.
Updated on 10/3/24 at 3:24 p.m. to include more case details and comments from Fiore and her lawyer.
