A former Los Angeles politician was sentenced Thursday on federal corruption expenses in a scheme by which prosecutors stated he promised to assist ship a multimillion-dollar authorities contract to the College of Southern California if his son had a scholarship and a job. as a trainer would.
Former Democratic Metropolis Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas — a one-time legislator, county regulator and a neighborhood political fixture for many years — was discovered responsible in U.S. district courtroom of seven felonies, together with conspiracy, bribery and fraud.
The jury’s verdict marked a surprising fall for a once-important determine in Los Angeles County politics, recognized for his involvement in civil rights and racial points.
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Marilyn Flynn, who served as dean of USC’s Faculty of Social Work from 1997 to 2018, pleaded responsible to 1 cost of bribery within the case final 12 months. Prosecutors stated that as a part of the plot, she devised a plan to funnel $100,000 that Ridley-Thomas offered from marketing campaign funds by the college to a nonprofit group run by his son.
“When elected leaders interact in corruption, our group suffers great harm. Ridley-Thomas was concerned in a corrupt conspiracy with a college dean to ship taxpayer-funded contracts to the college in change for advantages for his son,” the assertion stated. American lawyer Martin Estrada. stated in a press release.
Ridley-Thomas, then a district supervisor, provided to assist district contracts for USC’s Faculty of Social Work that might probably convey the establishment thousands and thousands of {dollars} in new income in change for serving to his son, Sebastian Ridley-Thomas, based on prosecutors. On the time, the college had a multimillion-dollar finances deficit.
Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas attends a board assembly on June 1, 2010. Ridley-Thomas was convicted Thursday on expenses of federal corruption. (AP Picture/Damian Dovarganes, File)
Sebastian Ridley-Thomas was a state deputy who resigned on the final day of 2017 when he was accused of unwelcome sexual advances in opposition to a Capitol staffer. The $100,000 went to his group, often called the Coverage, Analysis & Follow Initiative, prosecutors stated.
The son later acquired a $26,000 scholarship for 2018 and was provided a paid educating job with a $50,000 wage, though a scholar and trainer can be in violation of faculty coverage, authorities stated.
The Los Angeles Metropolis Council suspended Mark Ridley-Thomas in October 2021, shortly after he was charged within the case. Together with his conviction on felony expenses, Council President Paul Krekorian stated in a press release that the seat was vacant beneath metropolis regulation.
Krekorian stated he was appointing Councilor Heather Hutt as caretaker of the seat, who had beforehand been appointed to briefly fill the publish after Ridely-Thomas was suspended. Krekorian stated he would urge the board at its subsequent assembly to appoint Hutt for the rest of Ridley-Thomas’ time period.
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Ridley-Thomas, who denied wrongdoing, left the courthouse after the decision with out chatting with reporters. A consultant of his protection group informed the Los Angeles Instances that he would attraction.
He shall be sentenced in August.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, a longtime buddy and political ally, referred to as the decision a “unhappy day for Los Angeles.”
USC was not charged with wrongdoing within the prison case, but it surely additional tarnished the college’s elite picture, already battered by a sequence of scandals.
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USC was considered one of a number of universities embroiled in an admissions fraud scandal by which rich mother and father tried to get their undeserving kids into school by falsely portraying them as high athletes. Dozens of fogeys and athletic coaches throughout the nation had been indicted and greater than 50 individuals had been convicted within the “Operation Varsity Blues” case. They embrace TV actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin, and Loughlin’s clothier husband Mossimo Giannulli.
In 2021, USC agreed to an $852 million settlement with greater than 700 ladies who accused the college’s longtime campus gynecologist of sexual abuse. It was believed to be a report quantity for such a lawsuit. Along with a earlier separate class motion lawsuit settlement, USC has agreed to pay greater than $1 billion for claims in opposition to the doctor, who has labored on the college for almost three a long time.