Nevada GOP politician who ran for state treasurer headed toward trial in fundraising fraud case

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A Nevada Republican who ran unsuccessfully for state treasurer in 2022 pleaded not guilty Monday to two new charges and headed toward trial in two weeks on federal accusations she used funds raised for a statue honoring a slain police officer for political and personal costs, including her daughter’s wedding.

The new charges brought to seven the number of wire fraud and conspiracy counts against Michele Fiore, a former state Assembly and Las Vegas City Council member who has been suspended with pay from her elected position as a justice of the peace in rural Pahrump. Each count carries a possible penalty of 20 years in prison. Fiore had pleaded not guilty July 17 to a five-count criminal indictment.

Fiore and her defense attorney, Michael Sanft, invoked her right to a speedy trial and U.S. District Judge Jennifer Dorse in Las Vegas said jury selection will begin Sept. 24. Sanft and federal prosecutors Dahoud Askar and Alexander Gottfried told the judge they expect trial can be completed by the second week of October. Askar and Gottfried declined outside court to speak with reporters.

Neither Fiore nor Sanft commented to reporters about the case. They were accompanied by Fiore’s friend, Sigal Chattah, a lawyer and conservative GOP firebrand who lost a bid for state attorney general in 2022 to Aaron Ford, a Democrat.

Chattah also is representing one of six Nevada Republican party members accused of submitting certificates to Congress falsely declaring Donald Trump the winner of the state’s 2020 presidential election. A state judge in Las Vegas dismissed that so-called fake elector case over a venue challenge by attorneys for defendants including state GOP chairman Michael McDonald. Ford is appealing that decision to the state Supreme Court.

Fiore, 54, is a sometimes flamboyant political figure best known for supporting gun ownership and backing states’ rights advocate Cliven Bundy during and after armed standoffs against federal officers in Bunkerville, Nevada, in 2014, and at a national wildlife refuge in Oregon in 2016.

Fiore was appointed as a judge by Nye County lawmakers in 2022 after she lost her campaign for state treasurer. She was elected in June to complete the unexpired term of a judge who died. Pahrump is an hour’s drive west of Las Vegas.

Fiore served in the state Legislature from 2012 to 2016, making headlines posing with guns and her family for Christmas cards in 2015. She was a Las Vegas councilwoman from 2017 to 2022.