LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — A jury on Thursday found former Las Vegas City Councilwoman Michele Fiore guilty on all charges in her federal fraud trial.
The Nye County judge was found guilty of six counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. She had pleaded not guilty.
Jurors in the federal fraud trial heard closing arguments on Thursday morning before beginning their deliberations at 12:45 p.m. It took jurors less than two hours to agree on a verdict.
Fiore is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 6 at 1:30 p.m. Each count carries a potential penalty of up to 20 years in prison.
Judge Jennifer Dorsey began Thursday's proceedings by denying a motion from Fiore's defense would have acquitted Fiore of five of the seven charges. She stated the government had enough evidence to support presenting those charges to be considered by the jury.
Background
Prosecutors allege Fiore funneled money from charitable and political causes into accounts for her own personal use and spent it on things like living expenses, plastic surgery, and to pay for her daughter's wedding.
Much of the state's argument included Fiore's solicitation of donations for a memorial statue honoring fallen Las Vegas police officer Alyn Beck. Prosecutors say the statue was already paid for with funds set aside by the city for Alyn Beck Memorial Park.
Closing arguments: prosecution
Federal prosecutor Alexander Gottfried focused his closing argument on three questions.
- Did the defendant make false promises?
- Did those promises influence donors to part with their money?
- Did the defendant have the intent to defraud them?
According to Gottfried, Fiore lied to donors by sending them flyers, emails, and having conversations about how the money would be used.
For example, prosecutors showed the jury a solicitation letter from October 2019, which one donor testified is what prompted her to give money to the cause. Prosecutors also pointed out that the address on the flyer, where donors could send money, was Fiore's home address. One of the flyers shown in court was allegedly sent four days after the Alyn Beck statue was dedicated.
When going through a sample of bank records, Gottfried also stated that Fiore's daughter, Sheena Siegel, and her daughter's company, Hamlet Events, were the biggest recipients of donor funds.
Watch: Darcy Spears breaks down the allegations of fraud against Michele Fiore:
He also pointed out that money was going out of accounts related to Fiore as fast as it was coming in and that little, if any, money was being saved to potentially pay for the statue. For example, a check from Fiore's A Bright Present Foundation for $2,500 was cashed on Jan. 16. On the same day, $2,450 in money orders was sent to Fiore's landlord.
"If she thought she is raising money for the statue, why isn't she saving money to pay for the statue?" Gottfried said. "She knew early on that someone else was going to cover all or some of the costs, so she never had to worry about it coming up."
He said a contract from August 2019 showed Olympia Companies was going to pay 100% of the costs associated with the statue. At one point, the City of Las Vegas had offered to pay for half and Gottfried argues Fiore was in those meetings and knew about financing for the statue.
"When politicians are doing something they think will make them look good, they'll do something to trumpet it from the rooftops. They want to take credit and for people to think they are doing a good deed," Gottfried said.
"Why wouldn't she want to take credit? Why wouldn't she want to tell the developer? Why wouldn't she want to tell the sculptor? Why wouldn't she want to tell Officer Beck's widow? It's because it wasn't a good deed. She knew she wasn't going to spend the money on the statue."
Closing arguments: defense
Fiore's attorney, Michael Sanft, brought up the FBI's search on Fiore's home and said the government carried out an improper search, which is how they found evidence like the solicitation letter.
"This is our premier law enforcement agency. Even they can make a mistake. Even they can be sloppy," Sanft told the jury.
"Why even search Michele's house if all you needed was just the bank records? The government needed more information. They needed more than just the bank records. They hoped to find shoes, purses, and outlandish things at the home so they could show you clear evidence that she was living beyond her means."
Sanft also pointed out that when law enforcement receives permission to search someone's home, they rarely come back with nothing and hope they find something that corroborated what they told a judge they might find. He added that the jury is having to rely on the word of the FBI as to the contents of everything they took as part of the search.
Watch: Michele Fiore says FBI 'raided, looted and robbed' her home during search:
When it comes to Olympia's contract over the statue, Sanft argued there were multiple people involved in the decision — for example, Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman. Sanft said there should be some sort of paper trail showing discussions about the statue, but he says none was presented during this trial.
Sanft brought up Gov. Joe Lombardo's testimony. He used an example that when Lombardo decided to run for governor, he took unused funds and donations from his sheriff's campaign for his gubernatorial campaign. He said that was basically the same thing Fiore was doing.
He also mentioned that Lombardo stated he was a victim. However, Sanft said the money used to donate for the statue wasn't his and that it was from the Lombardo For Sheriff campaign, which included donor money.
"He donated other people's money," Sanft said. "If it was really a personal thing, then he would have taken out his own wallet and put that money into that statue, not the donors' money into that statue. He's not a victim."
Watch: 'You're not getting the truth,' Michele Fiore tells reporters after court:
Prosecutors disagreed with Sanft's argument about Lombardo's testimony.
"There's a big difference between taking leftover political money and using it for charity and taking money from a charity and using it for plastic surgery," Gottfried said during his remarks.
"The victims weren't people who had axes to grind. These were people who trusted her with their money. Many were personal friends of the defendant. These were her political supporters. They didn't get up here and lie because they don't like her."
They also disagreed with Sanft's statement that the FBI did an improper search of the home. Prosecutor Dahoud Askar said there is no indication that anything but proper procedure was followed.
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