Disgraced Anaheim Mayor Harry Sidhu RESIGNS Over L.A. Angels Stadium 'Scandal'
May 24 2022, Published 1:35 p.m. ET
Harry Sidhu has resigned as the mayor of Anaheim, California following an alleged scandal involving plans to sell the property surrounding the Los Angeles Angels baseball stadium, RadarOnline.com has learned.
In a shocking development that comes as ex-Mayor Sidhu is under federal investigation for his alleged involvement in a plan to sell the property surrounding the L.A. baseball stadium to the Angels in exchange for a future campaign contribution, the city of Anaheim announced on Monday that they received a letter from Sidhu’s attorney announcing his resignation effective Tuesday.
"[Sidhu] has always, as his foremost priority, acted in the best interests of the city of Anaheim, and he does so today,'' Paul Meyer, Sidhu’s lawyer, wrote. "In order to continue to act in the best interests of Anaheim and allow this great city to move forward without distraction, Harry Sidhu has resigned from his post as mayor effective May 24, 2022.”
"Meeting the needs of the community has been and will always be Harry Sidhu's top priority.''
Although Sidhu has not been charged with a crime, an FBI affidavit included in the state attorney general’s office’s court filing suggests Sidhu potentially provided nonpublic information to representatives of the Angels during negotiations for the MLB baseball stadium property’s sale, according to NBC News.
The FBI affidavit also does not suggest the representatives for the Angels committed any wrongdoing, but the affidavit is simply in support of search warrants to further figure out whether or not Sidhu knowingly committed wrongdoing by allegedly providing nonpublic information in exchange for a generous future political campaign donation.
“A fair and thorough investigation will prove that Mayor Harry Sidhu did not leak secret information in hopes of a later political campaign contribution,” Meyer said in the letter published by Anaheim on Monday.
“The government affidavit confirms that Harry never asked for a political campaign contribution that was linked in any way to the negotiation process,” Sidhu’s lawyer added.
Anaheim has reportedly been negotiating the sale of the Angels stadium property since 2019 after the L.A. baseball team expressed an interest in purchasing the land surrounding the stadium rather than leasing it, but the newly released FBI affidavit claims that then-Mayor Sidhu provided private information to the Angels to use during their purchase negotiations.
According to an unidentified individual who Sidhu spoke to and who is now reportedly cooperating with the federal investigation, Sidhu allegedly expressed plans to request a $1,000,000 campaign contribution from the Angels’ representatives in exchange for the nonpublic information he provided.