Ex-Anaheim mayor to plead guilty in Angel Stadium corruption case

Former Anaheim Mayor Harry Sidhu will plead guilty to four federal charges tied to a public corruption scandal that led to his resignation and killed the city’s $320 million sale of Angel Stadium.

Sidhu has agreed to plead guilty to obstruction of justice, wire fraud, false statement to the Federal Aviation Administration and false statement to the FBI, the Orange County Register reported.

“Mr. Sidhu was elected by and pledged to work for the residents of Anaheim, but he violated that pledge and their trust on numerous occasions to look out for special interests,” Donald Alway, the FBI’s assistant director in charge of the Los Angeles field office, said in a statement. 

“Mr. Sidhu deceived his colleagues and weakened the city’s official strategy by divulging intellectual property, then lied to the government when his corruption was discovered.”

The guilty plea comes more than 14 months after the Anaheim City Council voted to nix a $320 million deal to sell Angel Stadium because of a corruption scandal involving the former mayor that included misconduct and pay-to-play schemes. 

The charges against Sidhu outlined in a plea agreement include lying to FBI agents about not expecting to receive anything from the stadium deal, despite secret recordings of him saying he hoped to secure a $1 million campaign contribution.

And they include Sidhu destroying an email in which he provided confidential information about city negotiations to a team consultant. Sidhu had for more than a year contended he did nothing wrong.

He now faces more than 50 years in federal prison for his crimes, according to the agreement.

Sidhu’s attorney Paul Meyer said, “Former Mayor Sidhu appreciates the thorough and fair investigation by the United States Attorney’s Office leading to a resolution in this matter.”

The agreement comes two weeks after an independent investigation by the city released details about how Sidhu and his allies had engaged in ”influence peddling” with OC developers, and a “potential criminal conspiracy” involving the alleged shuffling of pandemic recovery funds.

During the city’s talks to sell Angel Stadium to a company owned by Angels owner Arte Moreno,  Sidhu sought to join the city’s negotiating team, then provided “confidential inside information belonging to the city” to former Anaheim Chamber of Commerce CEO Todd Ament, according to the plea agreement. 

Amant, who participated in a self-described “cabal” that influenced Anaheim’s city government, later pleaded guilty to criminal charges related to the corruption case.

Sidhu also provided inside information to a consultant working for the Angels, “so that the Angels could buy Angel Stadium on terms beneficial to the Angels,” the plea agreement states. 

In 2019, he also provided a confidential appraisal range related to Angel Stadium to Ament to give to the Angels before that figure was public.

Sidhu was secretly recorded several months later, saying he expected to ask for a $1 million campaign contribution toward his reelection from the Angels if the team succeeded in buying the stadium, the plea agreement says.

The mayor stepped down in May last year after a revelation the FBI was investigating Sidhu and public corruption tied to the stadium deal. Moreno and his firm, SRB Management, had plans to develop the 150-acre site around the stadium into offices, shops, hotels, restaurants and more than 5,000 homes. 

— Dana Bartholomew

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