CINCINNATI — The Department of Justice (DOJ) is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to throw out all of former Cincinnati City Councilman P.G. Sittenfeld's convictions, according to a brief filed Monday by Solicitor General D. John Sauer.
Sittenfield, who was convicted in 2022 and sentenced to spend 16 months in prison for bribery and attempted extortion, was pardoned by President Donald Trump in May 2025. According to the brief, the DOJ wants "to give full effect to the President's pardon and to avoid any remaining doubts about its scope."
Sittenfeld had previously asked in May 2024 to have his public corruption conviction thrown out and subsequently only served four and a half months of his sentence before he was released for the appeal's duration.
The former city councilman has maintained that he did nothing illegal by accepting $20,000 in campaign donations from undercover FBI agents who were posing as developers and championing their project to redevelop a blighted downtown property into a boutique hotel because he was a pro-development politician.
WATCH: Hours of recordings played during Sittenfeld's three-week corruption were released. The recordings show exactly what jurors heard and saw before finding him guilty of bribery and extortion.
When Sittenfeld took the witness stand during his 2022 trial, he admitted that he'll "probably never be in politics again."
Per the Supreme Court brief, Sittenfeld has expressed concern that the pardon did not "eliminate the collateral consequences of his conviction" or return the $40,000 fine he owed as part of his sentence. The brief indicates that the DOJ is willing to give Sittenfeld back the full $40,000 fine.
If the Supreme Court were to do as the DOJ asks, it would "dismiss the indictment with prejudice" and vacate a federal appeals court ruling. The decision would then send Sittenfeld's case back to the federal judge who first oversaw the trial in Cincinnati.
In a another filing from Monday, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Ohio, which first prosecuted Sittenfeld, also motioned to dismiss Sittenfeld's indictments.
Sittenfeld was the third council member the FBI arrested in 2020 on public corruption charges stemming from a massive sting at Cincinnati City Hall involving at least three undercover FBI agents and multiple informants who secretly recorded numerous elected leaders over two years.
Former council member Tamaya Dennard pleaded guilty to honest services wire fraud for accepting $15,000 as part of a scheme to exchange her votes for money. A judge sentenced her to 18 months in prison and she was released in 2022.
Former council member Jeff Pastor also pleaded guilty to honest services wire fraud. Prosecutors said he took $55,000 in bribes in exchange for votes on development deals. He was sent to prison, but was released in December to serve the last seven months of his sentence at a halfway house.
Pastor spoke with us in his first public interview since his release, and he told us he's now seeking his own presidential pardon to allow him to restart his professional life and possibly resume a political career after his arrest.
