Jury cannot consider testimony of Fiore’s daughter, judge rules

Jurors cannot consider the testimony of former Las Vegas City Councilwoman Michele Fiore’s daughter after she refused to answer questions from prosecutors during Fiore’s wire fraud trial, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.

In July, a federal grand jury indicted Fiore, 53, of Pahrump, on wire fraud and conspiracy charges. She raised tens of thousands of dollars for a statue of fallen Metropolitan Police Department officer Alyn Beck but spent it on herself and her daughter’s wedding, prosecutors have alleged.

Fiore has pleaded not guilty.

The testimony of Fiore’s daughter Sheena Siegel ended Tuesday with Siegel refusing to answer questions under her Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate herself. Siegel’s comments on the stand sparked controversy over whether she contradicted prior testimony and violated an immunity agreement.

Fiore’s attorney said Wednesday that no one had informed U.S. District Judge Jennifer Dorsey about the immunity agreement.

Dorsey ultimately decided to throw out Siegel’s testimony, despite the objections of Fiore’s lawyer, and told the jury not to consider her testimony in their deliberations. She said Siegel’s refusal to be questioned by the prosecution prevented prosecutors from cross-examining her.

Pleading the Fifth

Prosecutors filed a motion to strike after Siegel testified on Tuesday that she did not know if a signature on a check from Fiore’s PAC, Future for Nevadans, was written by her or her mother. She said she may have signed the check from the PAC, which was made out to Siegel’s personal checking account, even though she was not a signatory on her mother’s PAC account. She also admitted that signing the check would not have been legal.

After that testimony, which Siegel gave under questioning from prosecutor Alexander Gottfried, she invoked her Fifth Amendment right and stopped answering questions.

Prosecutors alleged that Siegel committed perjury because her testimony about the checks may have contradicted her prior grand jury testimony. Prosecutors said Siegel had been offered immunity from prosecution in exchange for her full cooperation and honesty when it came to Fiore’s alleged campaign fund violations.

On Wednesday, Dorsey attempted to salvage Siegel’s testimony.

“Is there a way to put this toothpaste back in the tube?” she asked the attorneys.

Siegel returned to court Wednesday, outside the presence of the jury, for the court to determine if there were questions she would answer from prosecutors.

Siegel, whose voice sounded like she was near tears, told Gottfried she would invoke the Fifth Amendment in response to questions about preparing her mother’s campaign finance reports, her knowledge of campaign finance regulations, whether money from Fiore’s nonprofit was used for the Alyn Beck statue and the truthfulness of her prior grand jury testimony.

Questions about immunity deal

Gottfried said Siegel violated the immunity agreement by not testifying truthfully.

Ben Nemec, a federal public defender appointed to represent Siegel, said prosecutors believe the immunity agreement is void, so answering questions could open her up to prosecution on wire fraud, conspiracy and campaign finance violation charges.

Fiore’s attorney, Michael Sanft, opposed the motion to strike. He also said the judge had not been made aware of the immunity agreement, which he said did not cover the statue.

Dorsey said she had previously asked attorneys if there were any concerns regarding witnesses and was told during the pretrial stage that there were not.

But prosecutors still won.

Sanft also argued on Wednesday for the judge to dismiss most of the charges against Fiore, arguing that prosecutors had not sufficiently proved their case. Dorsey said she would make a decision Thursday morning.

No testimony from Fiore

Fiore told the judge she would not be taking the stand to testify on her own behalf. Sanft said she had been considering whether to testify since the case began.

Before announcing her decision, Fiore asked to make a statement to the judge, outside the presence of the jury, to explain her decision about taking the stand. Fiore said her statement would take about three minutes.

“I’m not chatty,” Fiore told the judge.

Dorsey ultimately decided not to allow the statement. She said she did not want to complicate what was a “very simple” line of questioning between Dorsey and Fiore.

“I also don’t want to turn this proceeding into some type of grandstanding circus,” Dorsey said.

Fiore did not answer questions from reporters following Wednesday’s hearing, and said that she believes the media will “spin” her statements.

“The issue that we have is we do not want to influence this jury in any inappropriate way,” Sanft told reporters when asked to comment on the statement Fiore wanted to tell the judge.

Contact Noble Brigham at nbrigham@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BrighamNoble on X. Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240.