Sheena Monnin resigned as Miss Pennsylvania last year, saying the Miss USA contest was rigged. She claimed another contestant learned the names of the top five finishers hours before the show was broadcast. Monnin said she decided to turn in her crown as soon as those same contestants were named during the show.
She claimed Karina Brez, who was representing Florida at the contest in Las Vegas, Nevada on June 3, recited the top five women after seeing a list of their names backstage.
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In a Facebook post announcing her resignation, she wrote: "Apparently the morning of June 3rd [Brez] saw a folder lying open to a page that said 'Final Show Telecast, June 3, 2012' and she saw the places for Top 5 already filled in."
She continued, "After the Top 16 were called and we were standing backstage she hesitantly said to me and another contestant that she knew who the Top 5 were. I said 'who do you think they will be?' She said that she didn't 'think' she 'knew' because she saw the list that morning. She relayed whose names were on the list. Then we agreed to wait and see if that was indeed the Top 5 called that night. After it was indeed the Top 5 I knew the show must be rigged."
Besides taking it to social media, the beauty pageant contestant spoke publicly about her claims. Donald Trump's Miss Universe Organization sued Monnin for defamation and an arbitrator ruled against her in December. The arbitrator said Monnin's allegations cost the pageant a $5 million fee from a potential 2013 sponsor.
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Trump won the case and will be awarded the $5 million the organization allegedly lost. Although the former Miss Pennsylvania appealed to the Southern District Court of New York, Judge J. Paul Oetken ruled in favor of the Miss Universe Organization on July 2.
"The Court does not take lightly that Monnin is compelled to pay what is a devastating monetary award. However, sympathy, or apparent inequity, may play no role in a court's legal analysis," commented the judge.
Monnin said in a Facebook post Thursday evening that she is glad the truth is out there, regardless of the outcome.
"This is not about me being a 'sore loser' or wanting my '15 minutes of fame.' This is about the MUO's admission under oath that they manipulate the judges' results to suit their own ends. This is not what they advertise to the public."
Monnin's story has been widely disregarded because it was revealed that she disagreed with a decision to allow transgender contestants and that's why she sought to trash the pageant.
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The Miss Universe Organization made public a text from an alleged email Monnin sent citing the decision to allow natural-born males into the competition as the reason for her resignation.
Trump's lawyer, although he said he applauded the judge's decision, was surprised Monnin stood by her story. "I'm shocked to see that she has yet to learn her lesson. I thought she would be smarter the second time around," attorney Michael Cohen said.
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