An FBI corruption probe revealed who really runs Anaheim. Read our full coverage
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Recorded conversations filed in court have thrust the city of Anaheim — best known as home to Disneyland Resort, Major League Baseball’s Angels and the National Hockey League’s Ducks — into the middle of a burgeoning public corruption scandal.
The allegations have imperiled the city’s planned $320-million sale of Angel Stadium to the team, sent shockwaves through Anaheim’s political establishment and provided a rare, unvarnished look at how business is done behind closed doors in the city of 350,000.
In an affidavit supporting a federal search warrant targeting Anaheim Mayor Harry Sidhu, an FBI agent wrote that Anaheim “was tightly controlled by a small cadre of individuals.” In another affidavit filed in court, the agent alleged that Todd Ament, while head of the city’s chamber of commerce, and a political consultant “defined a specific, covert group of individuals that wielded significant influence over the inner workings of Anaheim’s government.”
The investigation details the influence of lobbyists and other unelected power brokers on the city and comes amid an ongoing FBI investigation.
Interviews and records provide a rare insider’s look at the influence of unelected power brokers in the city that is home to Disneyland and the Angels.
The city of Anaheim was aware of one of its then-council members, Jordan Brandman, acting erratically for months before his resignation, and kept his behavior under wraps.
An Orange County grand jury blasts the Anaheim City Council, not just the former mayor, for rushing to approve the now-defunct Angel Stadium deal.
The ‘cabal’ steered policy, received contracts from the city and scripted remarks by Anaheim’s mayor, a Times investigation found.
Todd Ament, former head of the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce, has agreed to plead guilty in an ongoing FBI political corruption investigation.
Three days after the Anaheim City Council decided to kill the Angel Stadium deal amid a corruption probe, the Angels have agreed to not contest the decision.
The Anaheim City Council halts the sale of Angel Stadium and surrounding property on the same day mayor Henry Sidhu resigned amid a scandal.
Disneyland Resort executive Carrie Nocella is one of the unnamed “ringleaders” of a “cabal” that an FBI affidavit says runs Anaheim, according to a source familiar with the FBI inquiry. She is not accused of wrongdoing.
The Anaheim city council will meet Tuesday to try to figure out next steps in the deal to sell Angel Stadium land to Angels owner Arte Moreno.
Harry Sidhu said in a statement released by his lawyer that he did nothing wrong.
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Melahat Rafiei announced she has been a cooperating witness in the FBI investigation involving the Anaheim mayor and city power brokers.
Facing pressure to delay or cancel the Angel Stadium sale amid a corruption probe, the Angels gave the City Council 25 days to grant final approval.
If the Angel Stadium deal collapses, what happens? The Angels have options, but few of them would be a win for taxpayers.
Anaheim City Council members have publicly called for Mayor Harry Sidhu to step down in wake of being named in an FBI political corruption investigation.
Anaheim is a working-class city whose residents have more pressing concerns than civics, leaving room for unscrupulous officials to operate, Arellano writes.
Records from an FBI probe show how business interests run the Orange County city home to Disneyland and the Angels.
Todd Ament, former Anaheim Chamber of Commerce chief, is charged with lying to a home lender in growing Orange County political corruption scandal.
The FBI alleges Mayor Harry Sidhu may have committed crimes that include fraud, theft or bribery, making false statements, obstruction of justice and witness tampering.
The state attorney general has asked for the Angel Stadium land sale to be paused because of a corruption investigation into Anaheim Mayor Harry Sidhu.
