Anaheim has been plagued with corruption, criminal conspiracy, and self-serving politicians for years. As our former mayor awaits sentencing on corruption charges, his cabal quietly continues to push forward development projects they are invested in.

As part of the city’s attempt to show they were cleaning up, they created a city audit highlighting Harry Sidhu’s other campaign contributions, especially those related to specific projects. Unfortunately, their audit assumed that everyone submitted paperwork truthfully. The bad actors taking advantage of Anaheim lied about their true intentions and used fake information to send Harry Sidhu money.

This petition is to request the City of Anaheim and the FBI investigate the straw donor scheme SALT Development conducted at the direction of Peter Mitchell on behalf of Harry Sidhu.

Dirty Money Contributions:

• In 2019, Salt Development used Peter Mitchell, a local lobbyist with questionable ethics, to introduce them to members of the “Cabal”. They met with Jordan Brandman, Lucille Kring, Stephen Faessel, Trevor O’Neil, and Harry Sidhu. After these meetings, Salt Development began making significant campaign contributions to members of the Cabal.

• The CEO and President of Salt Development, Thomas Vegh, made multiple campaign contributions to Harry Sidhu.

• Brian Hobbs donated under the names “Brian Hobbs”, “Clint Hobbs”, and “Clint Brian” to Faessel and Sidhu. Because of his contributions specifically to Stephen Faessel, Brian Hobbs is adamant a vote on this project take place before November of 2024 when Faessel steps down from City Council.

• CEO Thomas Vegh’s wife, Barbara Vegh, donated using the alias of her Instagram account “Design Elevated”. Barbara Vegh also donated using the generic term of being a “retired” individual, hiding her true affiliation with SALT Development. These contributions were made on behalf of Thomas Vegh

• Brian Hobbs' college-aged daughter who still lived at home, Emily Hobbs, donated the maximum amount allowed by law to Harry Sidhu on behalf of her part-time job, “Sundance Mountain Resort”. This donation was actually sent by Brian Hobbs, her father, who already donated the legal limit. By using his daughters name, Brian Hobbs committed a crime.

• David Tillotson, VP of Salt Development, donated thousands to Sidhu through “Dalebra LLC.” COVID Payroll Relief records show this is a shell company at his mom's address with only two employees. They received $20,000 in COVID relief funds around the same time campaign donations were being made. By using this LLC, David was able to mislead Anaheim finance campaign watch groups.

• James Wheatley donated to Sidhu and Faessel through his LLC, “Wheatley LLC.” James was another VP at SALT Development at this time.

These donations are all recorded in campaign reports, but only Thomas Vegh's contributions are flagged in the Sidhu Campaign Finance Audit as a potential conflict. In total, SALT Development’s friends and family in Utah spent more than $30,000 on Anaheim politics, yet the community is simply told there are no lingering effects from the greed and corruption of the recent past. In late 2020, Jordan Brandman began bragging that the investment he went in on with Peter Mitchell “cashed in, yay!” This quote was uncovered by a Public Records Request conducted by the LA Times.

Once SALT Development engaged in a ‘pay-to-play’ scheme, they needed assurances that inexpensive land would be rezoned to high density. So, the City of Anaheim released the first housing draft, misleading the residents of Anaheim with false addresses. These project numbers ensured the parcels would be rezoned without alerting other land buyers and residents to the backdoor deal.

In September 2021, the manipulated 2021-2029 RHNA Housing Element report was released with the fake information. This report initially listed projects P-57 and P-35 with fake addresses and reversed housing unit numbers. The fake addresses and falsified project details intentionally misled the public, those selling the land, and deprived the public of its right to weigh in on the land-use change prior to closing. SALT Development then purchased the land below market value, as it was published as an approved pipeline development project. These assurances and project approvals ensured the investment strategy and pay-to-play scheme would be mutually beneficial for city officials and private investors, despite the overwhelming opposition and impact on the area.

In April 2022, the community learned of the FBI investigation into the criminal activity taking place at city hall between city officials and developers. Later that same month, a new version of the 2021-2029 RHNA Housing Element was released, deleting the fake addresses with no explanation. Although city officials were able to brush this under the rug, the original report was released and still shows signs of corruption.

It is very possible the City of Anaheim is aware of this corruption scheme and is moving forward with SALT Development out of fear of a retaliatory lawsuit, similar to how the city was forced to settle with the Angels, losing millions of taxpayer dollars. SALT Development has made it clear they will sue and/or increase unit count to declare builder's remedy. The city is not equipped to negotiate or manage corrupt developers looking to finish what they started.

We ask you to sign this petition requesting the FBI and City of Anaheim look more closely at this deal and the personal investments promised behind the scenes that are putting developer interests over resident well-being.

Do not donate money- we only ask you sign, share and voice your concerns to Anaheim City Council!