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Posted on: March 12, 2026, 03:55h.
Last updated on: March 12, 2026, 03:55h.
- Former beauty queen pleads guilty to $7 million Ponzi scheme
- Prosecutors say investors were promised huge returns from fake company
- Much of the stolen money was spent gambling in casinos
A former Nevada beauty queen has pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud after prosecutors said she bilked investors out of $7 million in a carefully orchestrated Ponzi scheme. Some of the money was gambled away in casinos.
Maria Dickerson, also known as “Dulce Pino,” “Maria Dulce Pino Dickerson,” and “Dulce Brubaker” of Sacramento was crowned “Ms. Woman Nevada 2020” — a state-level title in the United States National Pageants system, typically contested by 40-plus women. That much is true.
Dickerson, 49, of Sacramento, also claims to hold the title of “Ms. Elite United States 2021,” though no records of a pageant by that name could be found outside Dickerson’s own LinkedIn page.
Beautiful Facade
But as investors found out to their cost, many things Dickerson claimed turned out not to be true.
From 2020 through 2024, she ran an investment scheme in which she sold interests in what prosecutors describe as an illusory shell company, Creative Legal Fundings of CA (CLF), according to court documents. She claimed the business lent money to personal injury lawyers to fund litigation in exchange for a share of any eventual awards or recoveries.
Dickerson told investors their money was safe and backed by substantial starting capital. To bolster the company’s credibility and attract investors, she allegedly claimed that CLF was associated with the CEO of a multinational gambling company.
The company is not named in court documents, though on Dickerson’s LinkedIn page, she claims to have worked for Bally Technologies in London, a company owned by gambling technology and casino games giant Light & Wonder.
“She promised investors at least a 10% rate of return per month on their principal investment with additional compounding monthly interest if they left their money invested with her,” according to federal prosecutors. “In reality, Dickerson did not register the sale of her securities with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and she used new investor money to pay off older investors and to fund a lavish lifestyle.”
Prosecutors said she convinced approximately 156 investors to contribute more than $10 million to her scheme.
Spending Spree
Dickerson spent more than $280,000 at casinos in Las Vegas and California, nearly $23,000 on designer goods, and over $75,000 on flights and hotels, according to court documents. She also withdrew about $1 million of investor funds through cash withdrawals and cashier’s checks, prosecutors said.
The fraud overlapped with Dickerson’s reign as Ms. Woman Nevada 2020, which may have helped her cultivate an image of success and credibility.
Prosecutors say she largely targeted members of the Filipino community, of which she was a member herself. The FBI has warned about this type of “affinity fraud,” in which scammers exploit shared identity and social ties within immigrant communities to build trust.
