The former executive director of the Democratic Party of Orange County has pleaded guilty to felony fraud. According to a January 19, 2023, release from the Department of Justice (DOJ), Melahat Rafiei faces up to 20 years in federal prison for her crimes. She admitted to bringing two members of the Irvine City Council.
She was the principal and founder of Progressive Solutions Consulting, a political consulting firm based in California. Rafiei also worked as the secretary and head of the Orange County Democratic party. She confessed to offering $225,000 in bribes to ensure a zoning ordinance passed, which would allow her clients to open a Cannabis dispensary.
The DOJ released a press statement where they explained the details of the case. The document read, “In April 2018, Rafiei presented a business opportunity to an individual who was then employed in the medical cannabis industry and offered to introduce the individual to an Irvine politician, identified in court documents as “Elected Official 1.”’
The press release explained how the embattled democrat sought to hide the evidence of her crime. It reads, “Following this meeting, still in May 2018, Rafiei asked the individual’s business partner to pay her between $350,000 and $400,000 in exchange for getting the cannabis ordinance introduced. To avoid detection and mask the bribe payments to the Irvine elected officials, Rafiei planned to enter into legal retainer agreements with them.”
The DOJ explained how “Later, Rafiei explained to the individual’s business partner that Elected Official 2 had asked for approximately $25,000 and that Elected Official 1 had asked for $200,000.Rafiei then instructed the business partner that the bribe payments would be disguised as attorney fees for legal services rendered to her various public affairs and campaign management companies. The payments had to be “maneuvered” in this way, she said, to circumvent the elected officials’ disclosure requirements.”
According to this document, her clients were also being deceived. The DOJ stated, “In September and October of 2019, Rafiei falsely represented to a commercial cannabis company owner that, in exchange for a payment of at least $300,000, she would work to pass a cannabis-related ordinance in Anaheim that would benefit and be specifically tailored for the victim’s business. However, Rafiei already had been working on such an ordinance for other paying clients.”
She also lied to her customers about how much of the money she would keep for herself. The press release read, “Rafiei then falsely represented to the victim that she would keep only $10,000 of the payment in exchange for her purported work. In fact, Rafiei intended to keep $100,000 of the payment. Rafiei also falsely represented to the victim that $200,000 of the $300,000 would go to the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce when in fact, she intended to split the $200,000 equally between herself … She instructed the victim to pay the $300,000 to various entities whose accounts she controlled.”
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However, the attorney representing the disgraced Democrat has another theory. Alaleh Kamran said, “Ms. Rafiei appeared in court today and per her plea agreement entered her plea before the judge. She is proud that the work she has done was instrumental in bringing down the Anaheim cabal. It is worth noting that her plea was not to bribery charges, but to attempted wire fraud.”