Melahat Rafiei, an accomplished businesswoman and former Executive Director of the Democratic Party of Orange County, agreed to plead guilty after her attempts at wire fraud and bribery were unearthed. The agreement comes at the heels of her initial arrest in 2019, during which she began to assist the FBI in their investigations. Her initial courtroom appearance was set for Feb. 6.
Rafiei emigrated from Iran at age five to San Jose, Calif. as a political refugee with little more than $500 to her family’s name.
She went on to serve as secretary for the California Democratic Party and a state representative for the Democratic National Committee (DNC). At age 45, Rafiei was the principal and founder of the political consulting firm Progressive Solutions Consulting and was involved in organizing campaigns for many prominent candidates.
“I think we are all concerned about the direction our country could choose. I also think we all know that if we have a strong, active party, working to bring everyone together in common cause, we can choose a better direction for us and for our children,” Rafiei stated in her DNC campaign.
After gaining political stature, Rafiei participated in criminal business dealings. According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Rafiei agreed to bribe two Irvine City Council members with at least $225,000 from April to June 2018 for them to pass a city ordinance allowing her clients to open a retail cannabis business in Irvine.
Councilwoman Melissa Fox, one of the councilmembers who was allegedly bribed, broke her silence regarding the scandal and claimed that Rafiei approached her about providing legal services for Progressive Solutions Consulting.
“I informed her that under a city ordinance I was not legally permitted to represent any client before a governmental body anywhere in Orange County. Rafiei agreed that I would do no work impacting Irvine and I quoted her my regular hourly fee and my regular retainer, and thereafter sent her a proposed retainer agreement,” Fox told Voice of OC.
Although Fox was invited to meet with one of Rafiei’s clients, who owned a cannabis business in Irvine, she claimed the meeting “had no specific agenda.”
The Justice Department reported that Rafiei attempted to cover her tracks by disguising the money as attorney’s fees, asking cannabis retailers to help pass a city ordinance to accrue funds. Rafiei was also reported to have asked for a payment of at least $300,000 from one cannabis retailer to help pass a local cannabis ordinance, which directly benefited the retailer’s business.
Rafiei accepted a plea deal presented by federal investigators, agreeing to plead guilty to one count of attempted wire fraud, a felony with a prison sentence of up to 20 years.
In 2022, Rafiei confirmed to the Orange County Register that she was a cooperating witness for the FBI’s probe into a wider investigation regarding a corruption scandal in Anaheim and Irvine. This probe proved detrimental to local government, as federal charges were brought against former Anaheim Chamber of Commerce CEO Todd Ament, and then-Mayor of Anaheim Harry Sidhu resigned.
Ament created a so-called “cannabis task force” to explore whether cannabis businesses could come to Anaheim. However, federal authorities allege in court documents that this was just a cover for Ament’s attempts at embezzlement.
Irvine leaders voted against an internal investigation that would reveal the city’s inner workings despite the bribery of two council members, preferring to wait for the FBI. Councilman Larry Agran bemoaned the previous Great Park investigation, which took years to complete and cost the city over $2 million.
“There is an ongoing public corruption investigation by the FBI, having read that plea bargain and agreement, it’s pretty clear that there was more than just an attempt to solicit a bribe, that somebody was biting on the other end,” Agran told the Voice of OC.
Laura Kichler is a City News Intern for the winter 2023 quarter. She can be reached at lkichler@uci.edu.