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LA City Councilman, Ex-USC Dean Indicted on Federal Corruption Charges

Mark Ridley-Thomas was indicted on conspiracy, bribery, and fraud charges for allegedly taking bribes from a former USC dean to support county contracts with the school.

Los Angeles City Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas has been charged with conspiracy, bribery, and fraud offenses allegedly committed while he sat on the L.A. County Board of Supervisors. Ridley-Thomas took bribes to support county contracts with the University of Southern California, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California said in their 20-count indictment on Wednesday. The former dean of USC’s School of Social Work, Marilyn Louise Flynn, is also charged.

The bribery scheme involved Flynn admitting a relative of Ridley-Thomas’ to graduate school with a full-tuition scholarship and a paid professorship. Ridley-Thomas, in exchange, allegedly supported School of Social Work contracts to provide state agencies with services that would bring the college millions of dollars in revenue.

The relative is not named in the indictment, but it does note that Ridley-Thomas concocted the scheme at a time when the relative was the subject of an internal sexual harassment investigation in the California State Assembly. Ridley-Thomas’ son, Sebastian, resigned from the Assembly amidst the investigation, though he claimed the resignation was over health reasons. Sebastian then became a USC professor of social work and public policy, though he was later fired.