A massive report released this week on corruption and influence-peddling in Anaheim city government details a wide range of wrongdoing, including possible theft of taxpayer money.
The 353-page independent report is the result of a nearly year-long investigation carried out by an outside legal firm, JL Group, run by a former police investigator. It was commissioned last summer by city officials in an effort to demonstrate transparency and restore public confidence after the FBI revealed it was investigating former Mayor Harry Sidhu and other key Anaheim figures for corruption.
Investigators said their findings “tended to reinforce” observations laid out by the FBI that a small group of powerful individuals wields heavy influence over city government.
The report’s key findings include:
- The city awarded large contracts to the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce “with little or no oversight or meaningful deliverables.”
- A “potential criminal conspiracy” to divert $1.5 million in federal COVID recovery funds to a nonprofit affiliated with the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce. The report describes it as a possible “theft” of public money.
- Former Mayor Harry Sidhu engaged in “influence-peddling” with former Chamber of Commerce CEO Todd Ament. “The evidence pointed to the fact that individuals who wanted to meet with the Mayor first had to meet with Ament and then pay some form of tribute in order to reach Mayor Siddhu,” investigators wrote.
- The Anaheim Chamber of Commerce took over or supported various community groups and city initiatives, and then used them to gather personal data in order to target residents with campaign materials for candidates supported by the…
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