Former Anaheim Mayor Harry Sidhu was sentenced Friday, March 28, to two months in prison after prosecutors argued he betrayed the community by obstructing federal investigators carrying out a years-long corruption probe that torpedoed the city’s sale of Angel Stadium.
He must also pay a $50,000 fine and undergo one year of supervised release.
“I do believe the defendant did betray the city of Anaheim while serving as mayor,” U.S. District Judge John W. Holcomb said. “There are consequences to those actions. That breach of trust warrants a term of incarceration.”
The ex-mayor must turn himself in on Sept. 2.
Sidhu, federal prosecutors say, leaked confidential information during negotiations for the stadium sale, deleted personal emails related to the discussions and then lied to the FBI about not expecting to receive anything from the Angels.
Sidhu — who served two terms as an Anaheim councilmember before becoming the mayor in 2018 — described in a letter sent to the court prior to his sentencing being driven by fears that the city would lose the Angels and that he would look bad during his re-election campaign. In the letter, Sidhu wrote that he was “ashamed and deeply regretful for the actions that have brought me here. … I take full responsibility for my choices and I want to express my heartfelt apology.”
An immigrant who came to America from India in 1974 — with just $6 in his pocket, in his telling — Sidhu, 67, became an engineer and a successful businessman who owned more than two-dozen fast-food restaurant franchises across Southern California before turning his eye to politics.
Now, Sidhu acknowledged to the court in his letter, he has disgraced his family, career and reputation and will have to rebuild his life.
“I took shortcuts and acted in a secretive way in the stadium negotiations to reach a deal that I believed was in the city’s best interests,” Sidhu wrote.
Prosecutors have countered that Sidhu was actually acting out of political ambition.
In 2020, the Anaheim City Council voted to sell the 151-acre Angel Stadium plot for $320 million — not enough, critics argued, for the city’s most valuable property.
Sidhu positioned himself as the lead negotiator in the discussions to sell the stadium to a business partnership of the team’s owner, Arte Moreno. But as the deal was nearing a close, it was publicly revealed that Sidhu was the target of an FBI investigation.
The Anaheim City Council ultimately opted to cancel the sale. Sidhu resigned from his mayoral post..
As part of his plea deal, Sidhu admitted to providing a consultant working for the Angels confidential information so the team could purchase the stadium on favorable terms, at the expense of residents. For example, one document shared by Sidhu discussed how reducing the required amount of parking by about a third would translate to $64 million in land value.
More than a year after the stadium sale was approved, Sidhu had breakfast with former Anaheim Chamber of Commerce CEO Todd Ament, who unbeknownst to Sidhu was wearing a wire for the FBI. During the secretly recorded conversation, Sidhu said he was expecting a $1 million campaign contribution from the Angels for his reelection campaign once the stadium sale was completed.
In a later recorded telephone call, Sidhu said, “I am hoping to get at least a million (from the Angels). … I’m going to be pushing it.”
Ament pleaded guilty to federal charges in 2022 and is awaiting sentencing.
When confronted by FBI agents during a May 2022 political rally, Sidhu lied and claimed he never used his personal email for city business and expected “nothing” from the Angels.
Angel officials have distanced themselves from Sidhu, saying the investigation showed no evidence of wrongdoing on the organization’s part. Prosecutors have previously said FBI investigators were “unaware of any information” that would confirm that Angels representatives knew that Sidhu intended to ask for a campaign donation or that he had already solicited one.
Defense attorneys in the lead up to the sentencing ask for leniency with a suggested sentence of three years’ probation and a $40,000 fine but no time in custody. Sidhu’s lawyers said he has fully cooperated with federal authorities “about several matters” related to unspecified ongoing investigations. They also noted that he has health issues.
In the aftermath of the federal investigation, conversations have not yet resumed regarding a new lease for the stadium or a potential deal to sell Angel Stadium, which could allow the development of the acres of parking lots that surround it. The original development proposal included a mix of residential, retail, office and park space.