A Nye County Republican Party chair and former county commissioner is asking a judge to dismiss the charges against him, arguing that he was vindictively prosecuted by Sigal Chattah during her leadership of the Nevada U.S. attorney’s office.
Leo Blundo was indicted in March on wire fraud and money laundering counts. Prosecutors allege he fraudulently sought COVID-19 relief funds for his Pahrump restaurant, Carmela’s Bistro.
He received more than $500,000 through federal initiatives, including the Paycheck Protection Program and Restaurant Revitalization Fund, according to an indictment. Prosecutors allege he provided false documentation and inflated his restaurant’s payroll, revenue and number of employees when submitting applications.
Now, federal public defenders representing Blundo say the case was the result of personal and political animosity between two Republicans.
“But for Ms. Chattah’s personal and political history with Mr. Blundo, this case would not have been brought,” they wrote in a filing. “After years of line investigators and prosecutors declining to charge Mr. Blundo, Ms. Chattah’s office sent Mr. Blundo a target letter the month after she assumed office.”
Citing reporting by Bloomberg Law, the public defenders said that Chattah apparently supervised prosecution of Blundo and pushed for updates on Blundo in violation of a reported Justice Department order to recuse herself from the matter “because of her conflicts of interest,” court documents state.
The indictment came shortly before Nevada’s deadline for candidate filing, causing Blundo not to run for office this cycle, assistant federal public defenders Sean McClelland and Heidi Ojeda said in court papers.
Blundo was elected to the county commission in 2018 and served for four years, but failed to win re-election.
Chattah had previously told Blundo’s then-wife that he “better watch out” because “he does not know who he is f- – – – – -with,” according to court records. She also called him an “a- – – – – -” and encouraged his wife to leave him, records allege.
“The reason for the ordered recusal — and for Ms. Chattah’s defiance of it — is apparently simple: Mr. Blundo is Ms. Chattah’s political rival,” Blundo’s lawyers said. “They have different visions of the future of the Republican Party. And they have repeatedly clashed as a result, including over a 2023 censure resolution against Ms. Chattah that Mr. Blundo refused to block.”
The Nye County Republican Party resolution, which ultimately failed, proposed to censure then-Republican National Committeewoman Chattah for suing Gov. Joe Lombardo after he signed into law a bill that made it a felony to harass election workers, according to court records.
Chattah showed up at a county party meeting to defend herself. Afterward, Blundo’s wife Melissa Blundo tried to explain that she thought Blundo supported debate on the resolution and not the resolution itself, a filing said. Chattah insulted Leo Blundo and made the comments referenced in the filing, according to court papers.
“Especially given Sigal’s tone and demeanor, I took her comments as threats against Leo,” Melissa Blundo said in a declaration.
The call encouraging her to leave Blundo came months later, according to the filing.
Melissa and Leo Blundo are now divorced, she said in the declaration.
Chattah did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday, and her office declined to comment.
She still bills herself on news releases as Nevada’s “First Assistant United States Attorney” after an appellate court decision last month affirmed a prior ruling disqualifying her from three cases.
“These cases presented the question whether the Attorney General can make someone an Acting U.S. Attorney — bypassing the usual requirement that a U.S. Attorney be confirmed by the Senate — by designating that person as the first assistant to an already-vacant office of U.S. Attorney,” Ninth Circuit Judge Eric Miller wrote. “The panel held that the Attorney General cannot do so.”
Chattah has held several titles as President Donald Trump’s administration has maneuvered to keep her in place, though she was not nominated by the presidentor confirmed by the U.S. Senate.
Contact Noble Brigham at nbrigham@reviewjournal.com.
