Bribery and other charges against former Cincinnati City Councilman P.G. Sittenfeld were dismissed Aug. 24, in what a federal judge said is likely the final chapter in a "long-running saga."
U.S. District Judge Douglas Cole granted a request by federal prosecutors to dismiss all charges against Sittenfeld, who was found guilty in 2022
of bribery and attempted extortion in a case involving political donations.As part of the decision, Cole ordered prosecutors to return the $40,000 fine Sittenfeld paid as part of his sentence.
The case made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court, but while the high court was deciding whether to hear the case, the U.S. Attorney's Office in November 2025 filed to dismiss the charges. In a one-page motion, the U.S. Attorney's Office cited
President Donald Trump's May 2025 pardon of Sittenfeld as the reason for the dismissal.
In April, the Supreme Court sent the case back to a federal appeals court to reconsider the case "in light of the pending motion to dismiss" the charges. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in July threw out the conviction and sent the case to Cole who then granted the motion to dismiss the charges.
The allegations against Sittenfeld centered on donations to his political action committee, which prosecutors said he accepted in exchange for his support of a downtown Cincinnati project. The donations were made by FBI agents posing as developers and a developer who was an FBI informant.
After Sittenfeld was convicted, his attorneys filed a motion for acquittal, which Cole denied in 2023, although he said it was a close call that a jury should decide. In his Aug. 24 order, Cole said that "campaign contributions, after all, are suffused with First Amendment values, and the evidence relating to Sittenfeld's intent … was ambiguous."
Sittenfeld was sentenced to 16 months in prison but served about four and a half months, beginning in January 2024, until the 6th Circuit released him while its decision was pending.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: PG Sittenfeld's 'long-running saga' ends with all charges dismissed
