United States District Court – Eastern Michigan District

A Michigan woman who plastered photos of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris next to her name in 2024 has been arrested and charged with wire fraud after federal prosecutors say she posed as an ambassador, a private banker, and a successful hotel owner to steal more than $1 million from victims.

Shannon Monet Steel, 42, of Farmington Hills, was arrested by the FBI and made her first appearance in federal court in Detroit on September 1, 2026.

She is charged with wire fraud. She was released on a $10,000 unsecured bond. Wire fraud carries a maximum of 20 years in federal prison.

According to the New York Post, which reviewed court filings first reported by the Detroit News, Steel targeted at least eight victims between 2022 and 2026 and pocketed at least $1.05 million in so-called “good faith” escrow money. Prosecutors say she promised victims millions in loans from a bank that does not exist, then kept the cash.

The lies were not subtle.

Steel publicly billed herself as an appointed ambassador of the Central African Republic to the United States and as “Ambassador to the First Lady” of that country.

On her foundation website, she wrote that she was “the newly appointed Ambassador for the First Lady of C.A.R. NGO on a mission to eradicate poverty.” Investigators say she is not an accredited diplomat of any country to the United States.

The probe picked up speed after a reporter asked the State Department’s Office of Foreign Missions to confirm the title. The answer was no.

She also claimed to own Steel Private Bank, which she said controlled roughly $350 million in assets, and, in one document, more than €300 million.

In February 2026, she convinced a California businessman to wire $200,000 to a Michigan escrow account in exchange for a standby letter of credit.

To close the deal, she handed over a “Bank Confirmation Letter” that appeared to come from Deutsche Bank. Deutsche Bank investigators later told the FBI the letter was fraudulent and that the account number on it was not hers, according to the criminal complaint filed in the Eastern District of Michigan.

The bank itself was a fiction. Federal agents found no U.S.-registered, FDIC-insured bank owned by Steel.

The hotel story collapsed the same way. Steel claimed she bought and renovated an Embassy Suites by Hilton in Southfield for $3 million and flipped it into a Wyndham.

Court records say the property was never granted a certificate of occupancy and was never authorized to open. Ramada Worldwide later won a default judgment against her for more than $1.5 million over a franchise dispute, according to the New York Post.

Then there is the Biden honor.

In 2024, Steel received a President’s Lifetime Achievement Award through the President’s Volunteer Service Awards program during Joe Biden’s presidency.

Steel publicized the honor alongside images of then-President Biden and then-Vice President Kamala Harris.

But investigators later raised serious questions about how she qualified for it.

According to Local 4, federal court records allege Steel received the award without documentation establishing that she had completed the volunteer-service requirements.

The outlet reported that AmeriCorps determined the award was inconsistent with program guidelines based on information uncovered by investigators.

The complaint further states that the broader awards program was suspended amid concerns about fraud and inadequate oversight.