Former Cincinnati City Councilman P.G. Sittenfeld, who was convicted of federal bribery and attempted extortion charges, has been pardoned by President Donald Trump.
An “executive grant of clemency” signed May 28 by Trump directs the Attorney General to sign and grant a “full and unconditional pardon.”
Sittenfeld’s convictions derailed a promising political career where he once was the frontrunner for mayor. He was arrested months after announcing his campaign for Cincinnati mayor in 2020.
The case against Sittenfeld centered on donations to his political action committee, which prosecutors said he solicited from an informant for the FBI and FBI agents posing as developers of a downtown Cincinnati project. Prosecutors said Sittenfeld’s actions went beyond campaign fundraising and crossed the line into bribery.
A jury found him guilty in 2022. After a lengthy post-conviction legal battle, Sittenfeld was sentenced to 16 months in prison, although he only served about four and a half months. In May 2024, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals released him while his appeal was pending.
Earlier this year, the 6th Circuit, in a 2-1 decision, upheld the convictions at the same time as all three Trump-appointed judges appeared to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review the case.
Two of the judges said they believed the Supreme Court should review it. The third judge, who authored the majority opinion, said it “may be time for the (Supreme Court) to revisit or refine” its previous holdings.
Former U.S. Attorney Kenneth Parker, who oversaw Sittenfeld’s trial, told The Enquirer that the pardon “undermines the dutiful work that was done by my office at the time, along with our federal law enforcement partners.”
It also “casts aside the deliberative work of the jury, the district court judge, and the judges of the (6th Circuit).”
“Corruption is a crime that knows no political lines and should be addressed wherever and whenever it happens,” Parker said. “This case was prosecuted because of the criminal behavior that clearly occurred as decided by the jury. Remember, to even reach a pardon, one first has to acknowledge that a crime was actually committed. That is definitely the case here and a pardon is inappropriate, to say the least.”
Sittenfeld has taken his case to the U.S. Supreme Court in an effort to overturn his convictions. It’s not clear if Sittenfeld will continue to challenge his convictions. The lead attorney for the Supreme Court case did not respond to messages seeking comment.
Sittenfeld did not respond to The Enquirer’s attempts at seeking comment. His wife told a reporter who went to their East Walnut Hills home that she would not comment.
Staff writer David Ferrara contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: White House: Trump pardons PG Sittenfeld, ex-Cincinnati councilman convicted of bribery
Reporting by Kevin Grasha, Scott Wartman and Cameron Knight, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
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