Melahat Rafiei, the one-time head of the Orange County Democratic Party and one of the county’s most prolific political consultants, will be sentenced this Friday for attempted wire fraud after she admitted to trying to bribe two Irvine City Council members.
But federal prosecutors aren’t asking for Rafiei to face any jail time, instead suggesting she pay a $10,000 fine and spend a year on probation after she helped the FBI take down a corrupt deal to sell Angel Stadium.
The sentencing comes over two years after Rafiei accepted a plea deal from federal prosecutors, in which she admitted to trying to bribe Irvine City Council members to approve a cannabis license for one of her lobbying clients.
But Rafiei was unaware that client reported her to the federal government and wore a wire during their conversations.
“On October 28, 2019, FBI agents approached defendant with a sealed complaint, charging her with bribery, and an arrest warrant,” prosecutors wrote in a court statement recommending Rafiei’s sentencing. “Defendant immediately agreed to cooperate with the FBI and, that same day, participated in a lengthy interview with agents.”
To read the full statement, click here.
Before her indictment, Rafiei was one of the biggest political power brokers behind closed doors, helping elect many of the county’s most well known Democrats along with most of the Long Beach City Council.
Rafiei also received over 40 pages worth of letters from family, friends and colleagues calling for leniency in her sentence.
To read the letters, click here.
Rafiei is set to be sentenced on Friday.
Through the end of 2019 and 2020, Rafiei continued working with the FBI and ultimately participated in an investigation that saw then-Anaheim Mayor Harry Sidhu resign in 2022.
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]
Todd Ament, former head of the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce, was also charged and 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]
In their filings to U.S. District Judge Fernando Aenlle-Rocha, prosecutors say that without Rafiei’s cooperation it would’ve likely been impossible to charge Sidhu or Ament with anything.
“On the same day she was initially approached by the FBI, defendant agreed to assist FBI agents in investigating public corruption in Orange County,” prosecutors wrote.
“Based on defendant’s actions, including covertly recording meetings and phone calls, the government was able to charge Todd Ament, the former chairman of the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce, and Harry Sidhu, the former mayor of Anaheim.”
Noah Biesiada is a Voice of OC reporter. Contact him at nbiesiada@voiceofoc.org.