Former Las Vegas City Councilwoman Michele Fiore is set to be arraigned for a second time Monday based on additional charges that she used donations intended for a fallen police officer’s memorial for personal gain.
Fiore, 54, is now facing six charges of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud after prosecutors filed an updated indictment last month. She originally faced four wire fraud charges in addition to the conspiracy charge, which she pleaded not guilty to in July and called a “direct attack on my character.”
Federal prosecutors also want to introduce additional evidence that they say would show Fiore for years engaged in a “pattern of fraud” involving hundreds of thousands of dollars. But Fiore’s lawyers have argued that this evidence should not be accepted because it is irrelevant to the existing charges.
On Monday, the former Nevada lawmaker and one-time Republican National committeewoman for the state will enter a plea on the new charges. Her trial is set to begin Sept. 24, a truncated schedule after she exercised her constitutional right to a speedy trial. Each count carries a maximum sentence of 20 years imprisonment.
After her indictment in July, Fiore was suspended from her current position as a Nye County justice of the peace.
Here’s what else you need to know about the case.
What are the accusations?
The charges stem from the construction of a memorial to honor Alyn Beck, a Las Vegas police officer who was killed in the line of duty in 2014.
According to the indictment, Fiore allegedly solicited donations in 2019 for a nonprofit she founded (A Bright Present Foundation) to fund the construction of a statue honoring Beck. However, a private real estate development company had already agreed to cover all costs of the Beck statue, an arrangement Fiore was allegedly aware of because she was a member of the city council. State business records show that the nonprofit was voluntarily dissolved in 2021.
Fiore also solicited donations to her now-inactive PAC (Future for Nevadans) to cover memorial costs.
However, instead of using the money to fund memorial costs, Fiore allegedly used the funds to pay for her political fundraising bills, rent and daughter’s wedding. She also allegedly transferred money to a relative and officer of the nonprofit, referred to in the indictment as “Person A.”
What’s the latest?
Federal prosecutors and Fiore’s lawyers have filed motions in the past week regarding the admission of additional evidence in the case.
The prosecution wants to include evidence of Fiore’s alleged fraudulent activity beyond the scope of the officer memorial, according to a motion filed last week by Fiore’s lawyers seeking to block such evidence from being introduced. The defense is arguing that this evidence — which is under seal but appears to involve Fiore’s campaign account and PAC — differs too much from the existing evidence to be included in the same case.
Attorneys for Fiore also accused prosecutors of failing to file charges after the FBI had raided Fiore’s home in 2021 as part of an investigation into her campaign finance records, ultimately not indicting her until this year.
Meanwhile, prosecutors want the judge to block the defense from using certain arguments. Those include the implications of a potential sentence as it relates to Fiore’s age (she is a grandmother), the “good acts” she has done and Fiore’s arguments that she is being targeted for her political beliefs.
The prosecution has asked the judge to block the testimony of an expert witness — a Las Vegas-based accountant — by arguing the information provided about the witness was incomplete. It also wants to prohibit discussions surrounding the federal prosecution of the Bundy ranching family, who were at the center of the infamous standoff regarding cattle grazing on federal land. Fiore has been a supporter of the family, and in a statement this summer, accused prosecutors of engaging in the same type of misconduct as it did related to the Bundy family.
Prosecutors have also subpoenaed Nicole Beck, the widow of Alyn Beck, which the defense wants to block on the grounds that she has no personal information regarding the fundraising for the statue’s construction.
Responses to all of these motions are due by Sept. 17, and they will be addressed during a pretrial conference Sept. 20.
Who else is involved?
Gov. Joe Lombardo was among the donors allegedly defrauded by Fiore while he was the Clark County sheriff.
In the original indictment, prosecutors alleged Fiore defrauded an anonymous public official who wrote a $5,000 check to her PAC on July 16, 2019, to help fund a statue for Beck. That same day, Lombardo donated $5,000 through his campaign account to Fiore’s PAC. Shortly after, Fiore transferred $5,000 from the PAC to an account run by an anonymous co-conspirator, who was allegedly directed by Fiore to purchase money orders to cover rent at her personal residence, according to the indictment.
Laborers Local 872, the union that represents Las Vegas construction workers, was also allegedly defrauded by Fiore, according to the updated indictment. The donors included in the new indictment were referred to as a “union” and “trust” whose donations were redirected to repay another donor whom Fiore allegedly defrauded, but doesn’t identify them. Both of these groups are affiliated with the union, according to campaign finance records that correspond with the dates listed in the indictment.
A spokesperson for Lombardo and officials with the union have not responded to The Indy’s previous requests for comment.
Three other donors were allegedly defrauded by Fiore. Their identities are unknown, but prosecutors referred to them as an out-of-state resident and two attorneys living in Nevada.
Who is Fiore?
Fiore is a firebrand conservative who won her first election in 2012 for the state Assembly. She quickly rose through 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.
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.” Soon after, she was appointed as a justice of the peace in rural Nye County, winning another term outright on the 2024 primary ballot.
She is no stranger to headlines, making national news for her fierce support of gun rights. In 2015, she released a gun-themed calendar and was particularly outspoken in support of the Bundy ranching family.
It’s also not the first time that she has faced scrutiny over campaign finance practices. She faced allegations of violating campaign finance law while running for state treasurer for taking donations exceeding the state’s $10,000 maximum contribution limit, and her PAC also gave more than $150,000 to her daughter’s event planning company from 2018 to 2022.
