Melehat Rafiei, former head of the Orange County Democratic Party, was sentenced to six months in jail by a federal judge for attempted wire fraud.

Friday’s sentencing comes after Rafiei was arrested in 2019 and signed a plea agreement in 2023 admitting to the attempted fraud charge and also acknowledging she tried bribing two Irvine City Council members for favorable cannabis legislation – something she wasn’t charged for. 

U.S. District Judge Fernando Aelle-Rocha also ordered three years of supervised release once Rafiei serves her time and a $10,000 fine. 

“She was able to make her living because of our democracy,” Aelle-Rocha said during Friday’s sentencing hearing. 

“Somewhere along the way she lost sight of this.”

The federal judge ordered Rafiei – a onetime Democratic powerbroker – to turn herself in by Sept. 26. 

Before getting sentenced, Rafiei offered a short statement in court on Friday, thanking the judge and the prosecutors. 

“Whatever you hand down I know will be just.” 

Rafiei declined to comment after Friday’s sentencing. 

In 2023, she accepted a federal plea deal for one count of attempted wire fraud.

During Friday’s sentencing, Rafiei’s lawyer Jennifer Wirsching called her a “good person,” and pointed to over a dozen family and friends who came to support her as she asked for a lower sentence for her client. 

“That shows her positive impact on the community,” Wirsching said. “She has lost her career.” 

Rafiei’s sentencing comes after her case has spent years in limbo following her announcement in January 2023 that she’d become a confidential informant for the FBI after they arrested her and threatened to charge her. 

[Read: OC Democrat Power Broker Accepts Plea Deal In Wake of Anaheim Corruption Probe]

In a statement to Judge Aelle-Rocha on Friday, prosecutors thanked Rafiei for her work, saying without her help they would’ve had a difficult time charging former Anaheim Mayor Harry Sidhu and former Anaheim Chamber of Commerce CEO Todd Ament for their roles in a plan to sell Angel Stadium to the Angels without public input. 

Assistant US Attorney Melissa Rabbani said Rafiei immediately began cooperating with federal investigators after she was arrested in 2019.

“She sat with the FBI that day … and agreed to cooperate,” Rabbini said during Friday’s sentencing hearing. 

Sidhu would later get sentenced to prison for two months for lying to federal investigators about attempting to fast-track a sale of Angel Stadium for campaign contributions – among other federal charges, like tax evasion.

[Read: Disgraced Former Anaheim Mayor Harry Sidhu Sentenced to Two Months in Prison]

Ament pleaded guilty to fraud and has not yet been sentenced. 

[Read: Anaheim Chamber CEO Todd Ament Pleads Guilty to Fraud Charges, Could Face Decades in Federal Prison]

During Friday’s court proceeding, Rabbani also noted she was not aware of any broader corruption charges or investigation coming in Irvine. 

“I’m not aware of anything larger,” Rabbani said. “I’m not aware of anything else there.” 

U.S. District Judge Aelle-Rocha said Rafiei only cooperated because she got arrested. 

“Her assistance was timely, useful and significant,” Aelle-Rocha said on Friday. “She only did that of course after she’d been caught.