P.G. Sittenfeld

A federal judge signed an order telling former Cincinnati City Councilmember P.G. Sittenfeld to return $20,000 at the center of his 2022 bribery conviction.

His sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 10 before U.S. District Judge Douglas Cole. Sittenfeld faces two to three years in prison after he was found guilty last July on one charge of bribery and one charge of attempted extortion.

City officials will ask former Cincinnati City Councilman P.G. Sittenfeld to repay his salary and benefits from 2020 and 2021, valued at roughly $71,500, after a jury found him guilty of bribery and attempted extortion last week.

"What P.G. was doing was new school corruption — not for personal gain, but political gain," says David Niven, associate professor of political science at the University of Cincinnati.

What is next for the former Cincinnati City Councilmember convicted in his public corruption trial?

A jury on Friday found the former Cincinnati council member guilty on one charge of bribery and one charge of extortion. He was found not guilty of both counts of honest services wire fraud and one count each of bribery and extortion.

Both sides rested their case Wednesday and the fate of the former Cincinnati City Council member rests in the hands of three men and nine women.

"I did never and I would never under any circumstances sell my vote or trade my vote," the former Cincinnati City Council member said while being questioned by his own defense team.

Sittenfeld’s attorney, Charlie Rittgers, planned to call five witnesses to testify Thursday, which poses the question of whether Sittenfeld himself would take the stand.

The prosecution’s last two witnesses delivered the most explosive testimony of the trial so far: well-known Democratic political strategist Jared Kamrass; and Laura Brunner, CEO of The Port Authority of Greater Cincinnati Development Authority.