ANAHEIM – A criminal complaint filed against the former president of the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce details how Todd Ament got on the FBI’s radar through a fraudulent mortgage loan application he completed to purchase a property allegedly with funds earmarked for the chamber of commerce.
According to federal officials, Ament – with the assistance of an unnamed political consultant, a partner at a national public relations firm, devised a scheme to launder proceeds intended for the Chamber through the PR firm into Ament’s bank account, authorities say.
Ament and the consultant allegedly defrauded a cannabis company that believed it was paying $225,000 for a task force that would craft favorable legislation regarding cannabis.
But authorities say at least $31,000 of the money was paid directly to Ament without those payments being disclosed to the client.
“They [Ament and the consultant] were not given influence over drafting a proposed cannabis ordinance as promised,” wrote FBI agent Brian Adkins in the complaint.
In fact, Adkins wrote, they “appeared to have advocated against the interests of [the Cannabis company] despite having solicited, and collected, a significant amount of money from them.”
The complaint stops short of alleging Ament was providing kickbacks of the funds sent to the chamber to Anaheim Mayor Harry Sindhu.
The complaint uses words like “cabal” to describe the control wielded over the City by a select few people.
In conversations alleged by Adkins’ affidavit, Ament and the political consultant appeared to discuss which members of the Anaheim City Council they could trust in 2020, and who they trusted enough to bring into their “cabal.”
Similarities continue to be compared to events transpiring in the city of Inglewood in deals involving both SoFi Stadium and the Intuit Dome, the future home of the LA Clippers.
Madison Square Garden alleged Inglewood Mayor James T. Butts was participating in secret meetings with Murphy’s Bowl LLC, to finagle a land lease from MSG which was then given to Steve Ballmer to build his new basketball arena.
The LA District Attorney’s office found members of Murphy’s Bowl and the City were intentionally keeping their project secret from the public. As the lawsuit entered the deposition phase, Clippers owner Steve Ballmer stepped in and purchased the Forum for $400 million which made MSG’s allegations disappear.
Related: Documents Show How Inglewood Clippers Arena Deal Stayed Secret
The mayor’s ex-aide Melanie McDade was deposed in the lawsuit, before it went away, and changed many of her answers surrounding questions about
Related: Documents In St. Louis Lawsuit Expose The NFL, Rams Lying About Move To Los Angeles
With the city of St. Louis scoring a victory in their lawsuit against Stan Kroenke and the Rams, documents continue to be released detailing their desire to keep the move West a secret.
A political consultant to Inglewood used her brother to submit a petition to the City Clerk’s office to circulate to return the NFL to SoCal. In return, Butts purchased the consultants mother’s home for less than market rate, and with unresolved code violations.
“I want to welcome Councilwoman Faulk because this is a time of renewal and who comes onto the council and who becomes city clerk it matters,” said Butts. “We were concerned when Ralph [Franklin] stepped down and now with Faulk and Thompson we are solid.”
Inglewood mayor was “concerned” about council colleagues retirement
Mayor Butts and his handpicked members of the city council benefitted when Ballmer made contributions to their campaigns, along with dumping hundreds of thousands of dollars into an independent expenditure campaign committee to ensure Butts’ re-election in 2018.
“This man has consistently and repeatedly done things that have been corrupt and yet somehow these major developers of sports teams continue to do business with him,” said D’Artagnan Scorza, former president of the Inglewood Unified School District, “because ultimately it gets them what they want, right?”
Inglewood’s code enforcement department made grandiose strides to shut down illegal cannabis dispensaries in the City, while conveniently skipping over others. Residents conclude there “must be” some connection to the mayor, for they are still operating in plain site of law enforcement and the public.
Is the Inglewood mayor on the FBI’s radar too?
