Former Anaheim mayor Harry Sidhu has agreed to plead guilty to federal charges related to his attempt to sell Angel Stadium, including lying to FBI agents that he did not expect anything from the Angels when the transaction closed, he hoped to allegedly getting a $1 million campaign contribution and destroying an email in which he provided confidential information to the team about the city’s negotiations.

The plea deal filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana offers an extraordinary glimpse into Sidhu’s efforts to sell the stadium for $320 million to a company controlled by the Angels owner. A mock city council meeting was scheduled prior to the sale to rehearse talking points, the plea deal said, in which Sidhu, two unnamed city council members, an Angels adviser, the team president, a team lawyer and the then president would participate. of the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce.

An email containing the agenda for a fake council meeting scheduled for September 21, 2020 included a detailed plan, noting: [Angels] team available to help develop zingers, reactions and other points to improve performance. Sidhu would play himself and “He is expected to be a strong defender of the deal and know its terms well, at least at a policy level.”

An FBI corruption investigation revealed who really runs Anaheim. Read our full coverage

Sidhu, who resigned last year amid a wave of controversy over the since-scuttled stadium deal, will plead guilty to obstruction of justice, wire fraud and make false statements twice. The plea deal alleges no wrongdoing by the Angels.

The sprawling public corruption investigation first became public in May 2022 when an Orange County Superior Court judge granted the Attorney General’s request to order the sale of Angel Stadium and surrounding parking lots to the company controlled by Angels owner Arte Moreno to stop.

The attorney general’s request included an affidavit for a federal search warrant, completed by FBI special agent Brian Adkins, alleging that Sidhu, then the mayor, illustrated his intent to solicit campaign contributions, to the tune of $ 1,000,000 in exchange for performing official acts intended to complete the stadium. sell for the angels.”

At a December 2021 meeting secretly taped by former president of the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce Todd Ament for the FBI, the mayor discussed his impending re-election bid and the Angels: “Well, push for them to at least have a million dollars You know, for [Angels Representative 1] saying “no” is bad.

In a January 2022 conversation secretly taped by the FBI, Sihdu reiterated the million-dollar figure: “Because I hope to get at least a million … I’m going to push for it. [Angels representative] actually asked me. He said, “What can I do for your election?” I said, ‘Let me finish your deal first, then we’ll talk about it.'”

When FBI agents interviewed Sidhu on May 12, 2022, the plea deal said, he “falsely stated” that he expected “nothing” from the Angels after the stadium deal was finalized, that he did not conduct city business from his personal email and that ” he had no recollection of ever providing information about the sale of the stadium to the Angels adviser during the negotiations for that sale.”

“Defendant knowingly made these false statements with the knowledge that the statements were untrue and that his conduct was unlawful,” the plea agreement said.

While the Angels adviser is not named, details in the agreement and an FBI affidavit filed last year match prominent local lobbyist Jeff Flint.

The plea deal said Sidhu destroyed emails related to the stadium sale. They include a sent from a personal email account to the Angels advisor and former head of the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce in July 2020 with an attached document containing “confidential negotiating information regarding the potential sale of the stadium, discussion of issues with regarding price and other terms of sale.”

“Suspect used the Angels advisor and [the former Anaheim Chamber of Commerce president] to provide that confidential inside information to the Angels so that the Angels can use that information in negotiating with the city to purchase Angel Stadium on terms favorable to the Angels,” the plea deal read.

The deal marks the latest chapter in a sprawling federal corruption investigation that has pulled back the curtain on a self-declared cabal that federal officials claim has tight control over the city government. Leaders of the secretive group include the former head of the city’s Chamber of Commerce, a political consultant and, to some extent, Disneyland’s external affairs director, according to federal affidavits.

Former Chamber of Commerce president Todd Ament cooperated with authorities and last year pleaded guilty to multiple felonies, including wire fraud, making a false statement to a financial institution and subscribing to a false tax return. Melahat Rafiei, a former Democratic Party official and campaign adviser, pleaded guilty in April to one count of telephony fraud. Neither has been convicted.