Former Anaheim Mayor Harry Sidhu made his first public appearance in more than a year on Friday to plead guilty in a federal courtroom in Santa Ana.
Sidhu, 66, pleaded to one count of obstruction of justice, one count of wire fraud, and two counts of making false statements – to the FBI and to the Federal Aviation Administration.
Paul Meyer, Sidhu’s attorney, said in a brief statement after the hearing that “Former Mayor Sidhu appreciates the thorough investigation by the United States Attorneys Office leading to this fair settlement. He deeply regrets these violations.”
Sidhu abruptly resigned in May 2022 when it became public that he was under federal investigation. The FBI probe into public corruption allegations in Anaheim caused the city to embark on a series of reforms since.
Friday’s hearing was largely procedural, with Sidhu acknowledging that he understood the consequences for pleading guilty.
“Yes, I’m guilty,” Sidhu said to Judge John W. Holcomb as the hearing wrapped up.
Holcomb scheduled Sidhu’s sentencing for June 14. The maximum sentence for Sidhu’s offenses is up to 50 years in prison, but his actual sentencing will likely be significantly shorter. The court set Sidhu’s bail at $50,000 and Holcomb ruled Sidhu was not a flight risk.
Sidhu in August agreed in a deal with federal prosecutors to plead guilty. The U.S. Attorney’s Office has already agreed that if the court imposes a prison term of no less than 30 months, it would waive its right to appeal the sentence.
Federal prosecutors’ investigation into Sidhu stemmed in part from the city’s negotiations to sell Angel Stadium to team owner Arte Moreno’s business partnership, where Sidhu provided confidential information to a consultant working for the Angels, according to Sidhu’s signed plea agreement, so that the Angels could buy the stadium on favorable terms.
Sidhu is the latest person to plead guilty in the Anaheim corruption saga. Former Anaheim Chamber of Commerce CEO Todd Ament pleaded guilty in July 2022 to several counts of fraud. Ament was an alleged ringleader of a self-described “cabal” business and political figures exerting significant influence in Anaheim City Hall.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office has said Sidhu knowingly destroyed multiple email messages and documents with the intent to impede and obstruct federal investigators’ investigation related to the city’s $320 million sale of Angel Stadium. Sidhu said in court that “I have deleted emails from my personal account, which I sent to CEO Todd Ament.”
The FBI recorded Sidhu telling people he expected to solicit a $1 million campaign contribution from the Angels after the stadium deal was complete.
Since the announcement of the plea agreement, Angels representatives have emphasized it “showed no evidence of any wrongdoing by the Angels Organization.”
Ament has yet to be sentenced following his plea agreement; his docket does not list a date for when he could be.
Melahat Rafiei, a political consultant who was a central witness to the FBI’s Anaheim investigation, is scheduled to be sentenced on May 10 for attempted wire fraud. Rafiei began helping the FBI investigate Anaheim officials after being arrested in 2019. She pleaded guilty in April in her own agreement with prosecutors, and was originally going to be sentenced in October of this year.
Source: Orange County Register
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