Former Anaheim Mayor Harry Sidhu has agreed to a guilty plea in the corruption scheme involving the now defunct Angel Stadium land deal. The plea agreement was filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court (read it here).
Sidhu is admitting he lied to federal investigators about his efforts to push the land sale through in expectation of $1 million in donations. He’s also confessing to destroying records “with the intent to impede, obstruct, and influence” the federal probe.
The charges include obstruction of justice, wire fraud and making false statements. The latter two stem from actions Sidhu took to avoid paying California sales and use taxes on a helicopter he purchased.
The disgraced ex-mayor faces up to 50 years in prison plus a fine of at least $1,000,000.
Former Anaheim Chamber of Commerce president Todd Ament and former Orange County Democratic Party director Melahat Rafiei have already pleaded guilty in connection with the wide-ranging corruption investigation and have been cooperating with authorities.
The Angels Organization has emphasized that neither the plea agreement nor the investigation commissioned by the city revealed any evidence of wrongdoing by the team. The city-commissioned investigative report, however, claimed the Angels were not cooperative.