SANTA ANA, Calif.—The former president and CEO of the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce was scheduled to appear in Santa Ana federal court on May 17 after being charged with lying to a mortgage lender about his assets while seeking a loan for a $1.5 million home in the San Bernardino Mountains.
Todd Ament, 57, of Orange, was charged in a 99-page criminal complaint with making false statements to a financial institution while seeking funding in late 2020 to purchase a second home—a five-bedroom residence in Big Bear City, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The affidavit in support of the criminal complaint outlines a plot in which Ament—with the assistance of a political consultant who was a partner at a national public relations firm—devised a scheme to launder proceeds intended for the Chamber through the PR firm into Ament’s bank account….