Former president, CEO of Anaheim Chamber of Commerce to plead guilty to wire fraud

Todd Ament, the former president and CEO of Anaheim's Chamber of Commerce, has agreed to plead guilty to wire fraud and to pay back taxes for three years of unreported income, according to federal prosecutors.

Ament signed a plea agreement on June 1. He was scheduled to be arraigned on June 21, but prosecutors say a date for Ament to enter the guilty plea has not yet been scheduled.

The longtime Anaheim business leader was charged last month with scheming with a political consultant to launder money through the chamber to help him buy a home in the San Bernardino Mountains. Ament allegedly solicited $225,000 from an unnamed cannabis company to the chamber in exchange for the creation of a cannabis task force that would lobby Anaheim city officials.

According to the a criminal complaint, Ament and the political consultant were part of a "cabal" influencing Anaheim's government operations. Immediately after the charges against Ament were announced, an FBI probe of Anaheim Mayor Harry Sidhu boiled over, putting an immediate hold to the the $320 million sale of Angel Stadium to the Los Angeles Angels. The deal to sell the stadium was eventually voided, and Sidhu has resigned as mayor.

Ament was not named in an FBI affidavit detailing recordings of Sidhu discussing a payment from the Angels in exchange for a $1 million campaign donation, but the FBI said the person Sidhu was talking to on the phone about the deal was described as a member of the Chamber of Commerce facing federal charges.

Ament was also accused of defrauding the Small Business Administration's program providing COVID-19 pandemic relief when he allegedly received $61,900 in loans that were put toward personal expenses, such as property taxes on his home and purchases for at clothing and boating stores, prosecutors said. He was also accused of tax fraud for failing to report income for the tax years 2017, 2018, and 2019.