Anaheim Mayor Resigns as F.B.I. Investigates Angel Stadium Deal

Grappling with a federal public corruption investigation into the sale of Angel Stadium, Mayor Harry Sidhu of Anaheim, Calif., introduced his resignation on Monday amid questions on whether or not enterprise leaders within the state’s Tenth-largest metropolis have wielded undue affect.

Mr. Sidhu, a Republican elected in 2018 to steer the Southern California metropolis of practically 350,000 folks, has not been charged with wrongdoing. However documentation supporting a federal search warrant accused him of performing towards town’s pursuits whereas negotiating the deliberate $320 million sale of the Main League Baseball stadium to the proprietor of the Los Angeles Angels, its house group.

In an affidavit filed this month, Brian Adkins, a particular agent for the F.B.I., alleged that Mr. Sidhu shared confidential data with the group at the least twice in anticipation of a “sizeable” donation towards his re-election this yr. The affidavit didn’t embrace proof that Mr. Sidhu had solicited such a contribution however cited surreptitiously recorded conversations wherein the mayor detailed plans to ask the Angels for “at the least” $1 million in marketing campaign assist.

Mr. Sidhu’s lawyer denied that in a press release.

“A good and thorough investigation will show that Mayor Harry Sidhu didn’t leak secret data,” the lawyer, Paul S. Meyer, mentioned, including that the mayor “by no means requested for a political marketing campaign contribution that was linked in any technique to the negotiation course of.” He mentioned the mayor’s resolution to depart his publish efficient Tuesday was an effort “to behave in the most effective pursuits of Anaheim.”

Final week, the remainder of the Metropolis Council had requested Mr. Sidhu to resign.

Mr. Sidhu, a former metropolis councilman, is the second Anaheim official this week to resign from a political publish amid fallout from the investigation, which seems to have gained traction after 2019, when the F.B.I. arrested a neighborhood political guide on prices of tried bribery.

The guide, Melahat Rafiei, additionally served on a metropolis fee, sat on the Democratic Nationwide Committee and was an officer within the state Democratic Occasion. She resigned from these posts over the weekend, writing on social media that she, too, was harmless of wrongdoing.

The fees towards Ms. Rafiei have been in the end dismissed. Based on the social media publish and the federal affidavit, she then went to work as a cooperating witness for the F.B.I., sporting a wire throughout conferences with Southern California metropolis officers in a federal inquiry into a group of native officers, enterprise leaders and political operatives who exerted political affect in Anaheim.

Within the social media publish, she wrote that she had meant to “uncover corruption amongst Republican operatives.”

The investigation additionally has ensnared the previous chief government of the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce. The manager, Todd Ament, was charged final week with mendacity about his belongings to a mortgage lender in an try to make use of the chamber’s cash to qualify for a mortgage to purchase a trip house.

Mike Lyster, a spokesman for Anaheim, mentioned the Metropolis Council would meet Tuesday to debate the way forward for the stadium deal, a difficulty that raises broader questions on the way forward for a metropolis identified for its vacationer sights — Disneyland chief amongst them — {and professional} sports activities groups.

Proper now, town owns what Mr. Lyster described as an growing old stadium, famously marked by an enormous purple “A” encircled by a halo. The stadium is surrounded by a sea of concrete, a car parking zone that an organization run by Arte Moreno, the proprietor of the Angels, deliberate to develop with properties, eating places, motels and outlets.

The investigation might impede the deal. In December, California officers discovered that the sale violated a state legislation requiring native governments to prioritize surplus land for reasonably priced housing. Final month, Anaheim and the state agreed to resolve the matter by having town pay a $96 million positive. However Lawyer Normal Rob Bonta has since requested a choose to pause the decision.

Mr. Lyster mentioned that if the deal falls by means of, it might have an effect on whether or not the Angels keep in Anaheim.

“Will this be a pause? Will this be a reset?” Mr. Lyster mentioned. “That’s the course we want from our Metropolis Council.”