‘Lady Trump’ charged with judicial misconduct for fraud

Left: President Donald Trump departs after signing an executive order at an event to announce new tariffs in the Rose Garden of the White House, Wednesday, April 2, 2025, in Washington (AP Photo/Evan Vucci). Right: Michele Fiore campaign ad (YouTube).

A 55-year-old suspended justice of the peace in Nevada was formally charged with judicial misconduct for her ongoing, wrongful retention of $70,000 in donations she allegedly fleeced from a memorial fund for fallen police officers.

Michele Fiore, also known as “Lady Trump,” is now facing three counts of violating the Revised Nevada Code of Judicial Conduct, despite receiving a presidential pardon from Donald Trump for the underlying criminal fraud.

The Formal Statement of Charges, filed by special counsel Thomas J. Donaldson, outlines the specific ethical breaches Fiore allegedly committed while on the bench. She is currently suspended with pay and seeking reelection, but the Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline asserts that her failure to return the diverted funds constitutes a deliberate breach of ethics that fundamentally undermines the integrity of the judiciary.

The charging document focuses heavily on Fiore”s conduct after she was sworn in as a judicial officer in December 2022. The commission argues that once the donations could no longer be used to build the memorial statue, Fiore came under a strict legal obligation to notify the donors that the specific purpose of their contributions had been “abrogated.” 

The complaint alleges Fiore violated the rule requiring a judge to comply with the law by failing to request alternative instructions from the donors or return the money entirely. 

That violation, the document states, also violated a rule requiring judges to avoid impropriety and act in a manner that promotes public confidence. The commission claims her continued retention of the money amounted to an “unjust enrichment” that destroys trust in the court.

The third and final count directly ties Fiore’s ethics violations to the results of her October 2024 criminal trial. The filing argues that being found guilty by a jury of seven felonies involving “crimes of fraud and moral turpitude” inherently creates a perception among reasonable minds that her “honesty, impartiality, temperament or fitness to serve as a judge is adversely affected.” 

As Law&Crime previously reported, the woman known in political circles as “Lady Trump” was convicted of “fleecing” the community out of about $70,000 in a scheme to defraud donors to a charity for a police officer who was killed in the line of duty, using the money she collected for personal expenses such as “rent, cosmetic procedures, and her daughter’s wedding.”

However, before she was sentenced, President Donald Trump gave Fiore a “full and unconditional pardon” for her crimes. 

Following the pardon, the seven-member judicial commission issued a ruling suspending Fiore with pay pending an investigation of “additional complaints” levied against her.

The conduct that led to her fraud convictions occurred before she was elected a justice of the peace.

The saga began in 2019 when Fiore, then a Las Vegas city councilwoman, solicited tens of thousands of dollars to build a statue honoring Officers Alyn Beck and Igor Soldo, who were killed in the line of duty. While the monument was eventually erected in a Las Vegas park, it was funded entirely by a separate development company.

Federal investigators found that the donations Fiore collected were instead quickly converted to cash and used to pay for her daughter’s wedding, her own rent, and various cosmetic procedures. 

U.S. District Court Judge Jennifer Dorsey previously denied Fiore’s motions for a new trial, noting that the jury heard from a “veritable who’s who of Nevada business” who wrote checks based on Fiore’s false promises. Though Judge Dorsey ultimately vacated the federal sentencing date and closed the criminal case following the pardon, the commission maintains that the underlying deceit remains a valid basis for professional discipline. 

The formal charges arrive just weeks after the Nevada Supreme Court upheld the commission’s authority to suspend her, rejecting Fiore’s argument that the panel lacked jurisdiction over conduct that occurred before she took the bench. Fiore remains suspended as the formal disciplinary process moves forward.

In response to the charges, Fiore issued the following statement to the Las Vegas Review-Journal:

“Here we are more than a year later, in the middle of my re-election campaign, and the Commission continues advancing the same allegations. There is no outside complainant in this matter, the proceedings were initiated internally through Executive Director Paul Deyhle and the Commission itself, not by any alleged victim or member of the public claiming harm.

“Our response will address what we believe to be significant jurisdictional, procedural and due process concerns, including the ongoing use of disciplinary process in a manner that continues to directly impact an active judicial election.”

Upon Fiore’s formal response to the commission, due May 18, a hearing will be scheduled within 60 days.