Former Miss Pennsylvania Sheena Monnin has been ordered by a federal judge to pay Donald Trump’s Miss USA pageant $5 million after she claimed the pageant was rigged.
The Associated Press reports that Monnin’s claims cost the organization a $5 million sponsor which an arbitrator ruled she would have to pay back in full to the organization.
The former pageant competitor has since taken to her Facebook to thank the judge for hearing her case and is hoping that her supporters will help contribute to her legal fund.
“I was hopeful for a different outcome, but I am pleased that the true nature of the Miss USA judging procedure has been exposed by the testimony of the Miss Universe Organization (MUO) and Ernst & Young during the arbitration proceedings – testimony that reveals that the MUO does select the top 15 contestants irrespective of the preliminary judges’ scores,” she writes.
Monnin’s brought forth her claims in June 2012 posting her decision to resign from the pageant on Facebook after she stated that one of the girls informed her that she saw the top 5 list even before the competition started. She resigned from her post as Miss. Pensylvania and removed herself from the organization completely claiming that the organization was “fraudulent, lacking in morals, inconsistent, and in many ways trashy.”
After her story gained momentum, the contestant who allegedly saw the list retracted her claims and Trump threatened to sue Monnin if she didn’t retract her statements as well.