Michele Fiore campaign ad (YouTube).
A federal judge in Nevada has rejected a request for a new trial from a former Las Vegas councilwoman known as “Lady Trump,” who was convicted of “fleecing” the community by pocketing more than $50,000 in a scheme to defraud donors to a charity memorializing a police officer who was killed in the line of duty, using the money for personal goods and services.
U.S. District Court Judge Jennifer Dorsey on Friday denied the request from Michele Fiore, who was a justice of the peace when she was initially indicted by federal authorities in July 2024 on six counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. She was convicted on all seven charges following an eight-day trial in October 2024 and is currently scheduled to be sentenced next month.
Jurors found that when Fiore was still a member of the city council, she solicited donations to build a statue honoring Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Officer Alyn Beck, who was killed while on the job on June 18, 2014. Her solicitations allegedly included a promise that “100% of the contributions” would be put toward the creation of the statue.
While the statue does, in fact, stand in a flower bed near the entrance of Officer Alyn Beck Memorial Park in Las Vegas, it was raised without the former GOP gubernatorial candidate’s financial help. Instead, prosecutors said she converted all of the money — more than $70,000 — to cash and money orders that were used “for her own personal benefit.”
Following her conviction, Fiore hired a new attorney who filed a motion for acquittal and a motion for a new trial on her behalf. In her new trial motion, she argued that a series of events ultimately amounted to prejudicial errors that justified wiping the slate clean and starting over with a new trial.
Fiore’s claim stemmed primarily from the fact that testimony from her daughter and business partner, Sheena Siegel, was stricken from the record after she allegedly incriminated herself on the stand, obtained a lawyer, then subsequently asserted her Fifth Amendment privilege. She also claimed there was insufficient evidence to support her conviction and that she had ineffective assistance of counsel.
But Dorsey found there was sufficient evidence showing that Fiore “never intended” to save donor funds to pay for the statue, but rather “deceived her donors so that she would have cash on hand.”
“[T]he jury heard from a veritable who’s who of Nevada business and politics, who wrote checks to Fiore’s charitable organization or her political action committee in reliance on her promise that 100% of the donations would be used to fund the statue,” Dorsey wrote in the 77-page order. “But the evidence showed that a development company paid for the statue, and not a dime of the money that Fiore raised was used for that purpose. Instead, each check was quickly converted to cash and spent on Fiore’s personal expenses like rent, cosmetic procedures, and her daughter’s wedding.”
Fiore’s new defense attorney, Paola Armeni, issued a statement to The Nevada Independent on Friday saying that she and her client were “extremely disappointed” by Dorsey’s ruling, adding that they “truly believe” Fiore was deprived of a fair trial.
“At this time, we will prepare for sentencing and thereafter Ms. Fiore will exercise her full appellate rights,” she told the newspaper.
Each count carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison.
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Marisa Sarnoff and Colin Kalmbacher contributed to this report.
