‘QUID PRO QUO’

LA Pol Steered Favorable Contracts to USC After Son Got Full Ride, Jury Decides

Mark Ridley-Thomas made sure the university secured favorable government contracts as a then-dean arranged for his son to get a full-tuition scholarship and eventual professorship.

A suspended Los Angeles city councilman was found guilty on Thursday of federal bribery and conspiracy charges after a jury agreed with prosecutors that he’d enjoyed a “quid pro quo” relationship with a dean at the University of Southern California, who ensured the politician’s son received favorable treatment at the school. Mark Ridley-Thomas, long a giant on the local political scene in Los Angeles County, was also convicted of mail and wire fraud charges, but was acquitted of 12 other charges. The 68-year-old’s indictment in the corruption case stemmed from his time as a member of the county’s Board of Supervisors in 2017 and 2018, when he steered millions of dollars’ worth of favorable government contracts to USC. In exchange, prosecutors said, Marilyn Flynn, then the dean of the USC School of Social Work, arranged for Ridley-Thomas’ son to be admitted to the school on a full-tuition scholarship, and later receive a part-time professorship. Ridley-Thomas, who has repeatedly denied wrongdoing in the matter, did not react as the verdict was read aloud on Thursday, according to ABC7.