A former president and CEO of the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce was scheduled to be sentenced in federal court Friday along with a former top official with the Orange County Democratic Party, both of whom were caught up in public corruption probes but later agreed to cooperate with investigators.
Former Anaheim Chamber of Commerce CEO Todd Ament, who pleaded guilty in July 2022 to defrauding a cannabis company, loan fraud and tax cheating, was working on a new plea deal with federal prosecutors earlier this month, prompting a request for a delay in sentencing. But U.S. District Judge Fernando L. Aenlle-Rocha rejected the request and set sentencing for Friday.
Former Orange County Democratic Party executive director Melahat Rafiei pleaded guilty in January 2023 to attempting to rip off a client for her political consultancy firm and a bribery scheme involving two Irvine City Council members.
Rafiei cooperated with authorities to help them build a case against Ament, who later wore a wire in meetings with former Mayor Harry Sidhu that incriminated him of wrongdoing tied to a failed Angel Stadium sales deal.
The government’s filings related to Ament’s updated plea deal and sentencing were sealed.
Prosecutors have filed a request to dismiss a wire fraud count Ament pleaded guilty to, which Aenlle-Rocha will also rule on at Friday’s hearing.
Prosecutors are seeking a year of probation and a $10,000 fine for Rafiei in exchange for her help in the Ament and Sidhu probes.
According to prosecutors, the FBI approached the former political consultant in late 2019 about her role in a bribery scheme of two city council members in Irvine and she “quickly agreed to cooperate with the government, and her cooperation led to charges against two public officials: Todd Ament… and (Sidhu)…”
Sidhu was sentenced this year to two months behind bars.
As part of Rafiei’s plea deal, prosecutors agreed to back off on pursuing a case against her in the bribery scheme.
Probation officials said Rafiei should face between 51 to 63 months for wire fraud. But given her level of cooperation she should not face time behind bars or anything more than six months, prosecutors said in court papers.
Rafiei agreed to hand over $225,000 in bribes to the two Irvine council members in 2018 so they would pass an ordinance allowing one of her clients to open a cannabis store in the city. In a call with a confidential source that she thought was her client, she asked for $350,000 and $400,000 to get the ordinance going.
Rafiei told the source that one council official asked for $25,000 and another asked for $200,000, prosecutors said.
She also told the source that for $300,000 she would try to do the same for the would-be client in Anaheim, prosecutors said.
“In fact, defendant was already working on such an ordinance for other paying clients,” prosecutors said. “And while (Rafiei) represented to the confidential source that she would only keep $10,000 of the payment, she in fact intended to keep $100,000 of that payment.”
When Rafiei was confronted by the FBI she spent a year helping agents, including wearing a wire in meetings. Without her help the prosecutors “likely could not have charged Ament or Sidhu,” prosecutors said.
“Rafiei devoted a significant amount of time to her cooperation, provided information that was truthful and timely, and risked her own political, business, and personal connections and reputation to do so,” prosecutors said.
Rafiei’s attorney, Jennifer Wirsching, also argued for probation in court papers.
Wirsching said her client worked with investigators for nearly two years.
The attorney noted that Rafiei was instrumental in helping to sink the city’s $320-million deal to sell Angel Stadium to the team’s owner.
Wirsching said her client, who was born in Tehran in 1977, fled the country when her father was “targeted by the Revolutionary Guard.” The family spent several weeks in hiding before they “fled to Pakistan in the middle of the night,” Wirsching said.
Her family managed to “escape to Israel where Mr. Rafiei was arrested and brutally beaten in front of his entire family,” Wirsching said. “Ultimately Jewish-Iranian family helped get them released and Ms. Rafiei’s family obtained asylum in Italy.”
The family made it to San Jose in May 1983 with “virtually no money and nowhere to go,” Wirsching said.
Rafiei faced prejudice and mental health issues such as depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder, the defense attorney said.
Rafiei enrolled in an “intensive six-week outpatient treatment program” in 2022 and she “continues to participate in talk therapy, cognitive therapy and EMDR therapy (a treatment designed to help people process traumatic memories),” Wirsching said.
Rafiei is raising a 12-year-old son and cared for her ex-husband and his wife when they both fell seriously ill, Wirsching said.
Former Irvine Councilwoman Beth Krom wrote a letter in support of Rafiei, describing how she helped Krom and her family after her 22-year-old son died.
Ament pleaded guilty to defrauding a company of $225,000 and pocketing $41,000 of it, according to his plea agreement. But prosecutors are seeking to have that wire fraud count dismissed.
Ament agreed that in exchange for the $225,000 to the chamber of commerce he would start a cannabis task force that would draft an ordinance to sell the drug in the city.
He also admitted applying for a COVID-relief loan for his consulting company and when he received $61,900 he spent the money on himself for clothes, boat dealers and the property taxes on his home.
He also admitted lying to his bank that $205,000 he loaned to himself was earned income. He also admitted cheating the government out of $249,998 in taxes in 2017-2019.
Another issue was raised in the case when attorney Dean Steward, who represents the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce, filed a motion requesting the chamber be added to the list of victims in line for restitution. It doesn’t appear that the issue will delay sentencing, but will come into focus when the judge sets a restitution hearing.
Steward said the organization was a victim and that it has been left out of the loop for restitution in error. Steward argues it deserves $264,330.65.
Steward noted that the restitution amount agreed to in the plea agreement was $479,995, but that reflects just the tax losses.
Steward argued that Ament pocketed $30,000 in money intended for the chamber. He also said the chamber lost $147,433 in revenue because of his and Sidhu’s corruption.
The chamber “was forced to cancel a December 2022 event,” costing it $15,569, Steward said.
“This and the other losses above were as a direct and pointed result of Ament’s fraud,” Steward said.
When news of the corruption surfaced it stifled the chamber’s ability to host other revenue-producing events such as golf tournaments.
There’s also $31,185 in lost money for Ament’s failure to file tax returns for the chamber in 2020, Steward said. There’s also $17,126.20 in legal fees because of the investigation, he added.