Orange County Superior Court Judge Glenn Salter granted a 60-day stay on the Los Angeles Angels stadium land sale yesterday in the wake of revelations that the FBI is exploring corruption charges against Anaheim Mayor Harry Sidhu for allegedly soliciting bribes and tampering with witnesses surrounding the deal. That’s big news for Angels owner Arte Moreno’s nearly decade-long attempt to get hold of the site at a massive discount — but it’s not what we’re here to talk about today, because there have now been federal charges filed, and they’re not against Sidhu, they’re against … OMG, is that Cooperating Witness #2?
[Former president and CEO of the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce] Todd Ament, 57, of Orange, was charged in a 99-page criminal complaint filed Monday in U.S. District Court around false statements he allegedly made while seeking funding in late 2020 to purchase a $1.5 million, five-bedroom residence in Big Bear City…
Federal officials say Ament and the PR consultant defrauded a cannabis company that believed it was paying $225,000 for a task force that would craft favorable legislation regarding cannabis.
But authorities say at least $31,000 of the money was paid directly to Ament without those payments being disclosed to the client.
The original affidavit about Sidhu, you’ll recall, included a recorded conversation with a Chamber of Commerce employee where the mayor said, “I am hoping to get at least a million from I’m going to be pushing it. [Angels Representative 1] actually asked me. [Angels Representative 1] said, ‘What can I do for your election?’ I said, ‘Let me finish your deal first, and then we’ll talk about that.’” The Chamber employee wasn’t named in the affidavit, but whoever wrote it up forgot to redact the name “Todd” from part of a transcript, making it clear that Cooperating Witness #2 was almost certainly Ament. Next time, hire a copy editor, guys!
Anyway, while this is pure speculation, we may now have some idea why Ament would have been cooperating with the FBI, if he had already been caught for embezzling $31,000 of bribe money. (Note to lawyers: “embezzling” and “bribe” are used in the previous sentence in the metaphorical sense, not the legal sense. Also everyone is innocent until proven guilty, noted.) One would think Ament could have negotiated a lesser charge in exchange for secretly recording his conversation with Sidhu, but a guy who skims money off the top of a payoff to put in his own pocket — allegedly! — may have some hubris issues to work out.
So what happens now? At last night’s Anaheim city council meeting, one councilmember called on Sidhu to resign, resulting in the crowd of onlookers bursting into applause:
Meanwhile, as for the bigger legal picture, let’s go back to the Voice of OC’s Brandon Pho:
The federal complaint later goes on to detail Ament’s role in what Adkins – in another document made public on Monday – described as “a small cadre of individuals,” under which the City of Anaheim sat “tightly controlled.”
In conversations alleged by Adkins’ affidavit, Ament and the political consultant appeared to discuss which members of the Anaheim City Council they could trust in 2020, and who they trusted enough to bring into their “cabal.”
A secret off-the-books government? Brought down by a years-long FBI investigation that shows up to bring charges right before a giant development project kicks off? David Simon, check your messages, your next miniseries is calling!
I for one am shocked there was gambling going on at that establishment.
So what does this mean for Moreno? Soliciting a bribe is obviously illegal, but so it giving a bribe. Has it been confirmed that the requested “donation” actually happened?
Doesn’t look like the FBI has confirmation:
“I am unaware of any information confirming that Angels Representative 1 has, in fact, been solicited by SIDHU in the manner described herein, or is otherwise aware of SIDHU’s stated intent to do so.”
Well, different jurisdiction and all, but the fellow to whom ex F1 constructor’s association president (and subsequent ex-F1 commercial rights holder.. .which is a neat transition in itself) Bernie Ecclestone paid money that Interpol determined was a bribe is in jail in Germany.
Ecclestone himself simply paid a $100m penalty to end his bribery case with “no admission of guilt”.
If you are thinking that that sounds like someone bribed their way out of a bribery charge, well, you are not alone in that thought.
So Neil, is this like your birthday and Xmas all rolled into one? This will make a nice break from reading council minutes and perusing EIRs.
Yeah, searching through FBI affidavits is practically beach reading.
(I am enjoying Googling for photos of Sidhu’s new helicopter, though.)
Here you go, Neil…
https://mobile.twitter.com/MayorHarrySidhu/status/1515444962229325825
Per the FAA Registry, N277MC is registered to HS Sidhu in Scottsdale, AZ.
Those guys looked at the local Sriracha Shakedown & thought, CAN WE DO IT ONE BETTER like some sort of common Bell
Why do I have the feeling that this will all end with Sidhu’s successful campaign for Governor of California (or higher)?
The only thing I found surprising in all of this is that a five-bedroom home near Black Bear only costs $1.5m. That’s way more than I could afford, but it’s a lot less than I would have imagined.