SANTA ANA, Calif. — Prosecutors have requested a judge sentence former Anaheim Mayor Harry Sidhu to 8 months in prison for his role in obstructing federal investigators examining the city’s now-failed sale of Angel Stadium.

Sidhu is scheduled to be sentenced in federal court on March 28. On Friday, prosecutors filed their arguments with Judge John W. Holcomb about why Sidhu should be sentenced to eight months imprisonment, followed by a year of supervised release and a $40,000 fine.

The sentencing recommendation stems from Sidhu’s “breach of the public trust,” prosecutors argue. He pleaded guilty in 2023 to four felonies: obstruction of justice, wire fraud and two counts of making false statements to a federal agency.

Prosecutors say Sidhu leaked confidential information to the Angels during negotiations for the sale of Angel Stadium by the city to a business partnership of the team’s owner Arte Moreno, deleted emails from his personal account related to the discussions and then lied to the FBI about not expecting to receive anything from the Angels.

Prosecutors arrived at their recommendation based on several factors, including how Sidhu has since accepted responsibility for his crimes, resigned from office and repaid the taxes he evaded for registering a helicopter he bought out of state.

“But a term of imprisonment is absolutely necessary to sanction (the) defendant’s breach of the public trust,” prosecutors wrote, “and, perhaps most importantly, to promote respect for the law among wealthy and powerful individuals like (the) defendant.”

Sidhu was elected mayor in 2018 and was a part of the city’s negotiating team to sell Angel Stadium. Sidhu admitted to providing confidential information about price to a consultant working for the Angels so the team could buy the stadium on favorable terms.

For example, a city document he shared talked about how a reduced amount of required parking would allow more of the property to be sold by the developers for a greater amount of money than paid to the city. In the document, it was estimated that reducing the amount of parking by about a third would translate to $64 million in land value.

Prosecutors said providing the information to the Angels consultant was helping the buyers and “betraying the city” by advising on a way to reduce the purchase price and maximize the Angels’ investment at the expense of residents.

One of the emails Sidhu deleted was sent in July 2020 by the Angels consultant to prepare for a mock City Council meeting. Included in that email were Sidhu, former Anaheim Chamber of Commerce CEO Todd Ament, two Anaheim councilmembers, two city employees, the Angels president and senior vice president.

Sidhu, over a year after the stadium sale had been approved, was then secretly recorded at a breakfast with Ament — who was wearing a wire for the FBI — saying he expected a $1 million campaign contribution from the Angels for his reelection once the stadium sale was complete.

Ament pleaded guilty in 2022 to federal charges. He has not yet been sentenced.

An FBI agent in May 2022 approached Sidhu after a political event and confronted him about his statements to Ament and the emails, where Sidhu then was recorded lying to the agent.

Prosecutors have said previously their agent was “unaware of any information confirming” the Angels representative was aware of Sidhu’s intention to ask for the contribution or had been solicited for one.

Sidhu, in a letter to the judge before his sentencing, said he was driven by a fear of the city losing the Angels and looking bad during his reelection campaign.

“I panicked and lied because I knew it would make me look bad in my reelection campaign,” Sidhu said in a letter to the judge.

Prosecutors said Sidhu engaged in criminal activity not “out of desperation, or addiction, or because he had no better options: he did so to further his own political ambition.”

Sidhu, in his letter to the judge, said he deleted the emails “because I was afraid that they would become public and make me look bad politically in my reelection campaign.”

Sidhu’s attorney, Paul Meyer, declined to comment on the sentencing recommendations. Sidhu’s attorneys in a court filing on Friday asked that the judge sentence Sidhu to three years’ probation and a $40,000 fine.

His attorneys offered a litany of reasons for why Sidhu shouldn’t face a harsher sentence.

Sidhu, they said, has fully cooperated with federal authorities “about several matters” that involve ongoing investigations.

They also argued that while Sidhu deleting emails related to the investigation was criminal, it did not actually impede federal authorities since they were able to obtain those emails from Ament. Sidhu, 67, also has several health issues.

Sidhu, in the lengthiest statements he has made since resigning from mayor in 2022 and ending his reelection campaign, told the judge he disgraced his family, career and reputation and is trying to rebuild his life.

“I took shortcuts and acted in a secretive way in the stadium negotiations to reach a deal that I believed was in the city’s best interests,” Sidhu wrote in his letter.

“I am deeply ashamed of my conduct,” he said, “and understand there are consequences for my crimes.”

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