New report: Former Anaheim mayor “influence-peddled” CoC nonprofit

SF and SJ aren't the only CA'n cities guilty of fishy quid pro quo relationships with nonprofits: As the California Globe explains, past Anaheim Mayor Harry Sidhu was discovered to have secretly rechanneled $1.5 mil in Covid relief funds to a Chamber of Commerce-led org. Many are demanding legal consequences to what's become a garden-variety pol scandal.

A new investigative report released on Monday has found a “potential criminal conspiracy” involving former Anaheim Mayor Harry Sidhu diverting $1.5 million of COVID-19 relief funds from a tourism organization to a different non-profit headed by the former Anaheim Chamber of Commerce CEO as part of an “influence peddling” scheme, sparking a fresh new round of corruption allegations in the city.

While corruption allegations against Sidhu have been around since the late 2010’s in Anaheim, the major allegations, involving the deal between the City of Anaheim and Los Angeles Angels owner Art Moreno to sell the stadium and surrounding parking lots to him for $320 million has been marred in controversy. The deal, which eventually fell through because of the controversy, had problematic issues ranging from violating California law to the massive reduction of affordable housing units being placed on proposed developments in the property. However, the main issue, as highlighted by an FBI report, was bribery, with then-Mayor Sidhu being accused by the FBI in accepting $1 million in exchange for performing final acts to help the stadium deal go through.

With the entire Anaheim City Council calling for his resignation, as well as federal pressure from the FBI and local pressure from residents, Sidhu resigned in May 2022. While he has not been charged formally and has continued to deny any wrongdoing, much is still up in the air over his legal future.

After his resignation last year, the city decided to do their own investigation, with the Anaheim City Council hiring the JL Group last summer to look into all the allegations around the deal, Sidhu, and others involved. The investigation, led by retired Orange County Superior Court Judge Clay Smith, went on to do a year-long review of the alleged corruption. In total, around 1 million city staff e-mails were sifted through, as well as more than 50,000 documents, examinations of several electronic devices, and a look into everything from city contract agreements to city expenditures.

This article originally appeared in the California Globe. Read the whole thing here.

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