Guilty verdicts were handed down Thursday in the corruption trial of suspended Los Angeles City Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas.
A giant figure in Los Angles politics, Ridley-Thomas was convicted on single counts of bribery and conspiracy, along with one count of honest services mail fraud and four counts of honest services wire fraud. Jurors acquitted Ridley-Thomas on 12 other fraud counts.
The verdicts were reached on the fifth day of deliberations. Ridley-Thomas showed no reaction as the verdicts were read in the downtown Los Angeles courtroom.
Ridley-Thomas, 68, of South Los Angeles, faced federal counts of conspiracy and bribery, and multiple counts of honest services mail and wire fraud. Details about a sentencing date were not immediately available.
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He did not testify in his own defense.
Prosecutors alleged that the longtime local politician, while serving as a county supervisor, "put his hand out" and accepted perks from USC to benefit his son, Sebastian. The defense put up an equally strong attack, suggesting to the jury that there was enough reasonable doubt to acquit.
“When elected leaders engage in acts of corruption, our community suffers immense damage. Ridley-Thomas engaged in a corrupt conspiracy with a university dean to steer taxpayer-funded contracts to the school in exchange for benefits for his son,” United States Attorney Martin Estrada said in a statement. “Today’s verdict sends a clear message to public officials that my office will vigorously investigate and prosecute those who abuse their power and thereby breach the public trust.”
Jury foreperson Kirsi Kilpelainen said outside court that the panel found "there was a scheme, there was dishonesty'' in Ridley-Thomas' actions involving a $100,000 transfer of funds that traveled from his campaign fund to USC, then to the United Ways of California, and finally to the politician's son's new nonprofit think tank.
The juror said the $100,000 transfer gave the panel "evidence for bribery,'' allowing for a finding of guilty on the charge of bribery involving programs receiving federal funds.
Federal prosecutors based their case on a long string of emails and letters to bolster allegations that then-County Supervisor Ridley-Thomas and the former dean of the USC School of Social Work, Marilyn Flynn, had a quid pro quo arrangement during 2017 and 2018 in which the then-dean arranged for Sebastian's admission to USC, a full-tuition scholarship and a paid professorship in exchange for his father's support for county proposals that would ostensibly shore up the school's shoddy financial picture and save Flynn's job.
“Public officials are elected to be a voice and a vote for the people they're paid to represent, not for their own personal gain,” said Donald Alway, the Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI's Los Angeles Field Office. “Allegations of public malfeasance must and will be addressed by the FBI before further corrupt actions erode confidence in our public institutions.”
Defense attorney Daralyn Durie countered that nothing Ridley- Thomas did was illegal, and a series of defense witnesses contended that the "paper trail" was not what it seemed.
Although the government argued that Ridley-Thomas accepted help for Sebastian in exchange for his support of USC contracts, including a Telehealth programs, that would've helped Flynn's school financially, Durie said the then-supervisor had already been in support of the proposals, so he could not have been bribed.
As for the contention that Ridley-Thomas participated in a secret scheme whereby Flynn funneled $100,000 ``seed money'' from the politician's campaign fund through the school to the Policy, Research & Practice Initiative, a nonprofit operated by his son who had recently stepped down from the California Assembly, Durie argued that nothing the politician did was illegal.
Ridley-Thomas' support of the contracts that prosecutors claim would've helped remedy the troubled financial situation at Flynn's school, had nothing to do with his son's ambitions at USC, the defense attorney told jurors in her closing argument.
Durie also alleged that one of the contracts amounted to less than $500,000 over five years -- an amount so low it would not have helped remedy the financial problems at Flynn's school.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Morse told the panel, however, that Ridley-Thomas made the alleged exchange to benefit his son, who had resigned from the Assembly amid an internal sexual harassment probe that was about to go public at the peak of the #MeToo movement.
Defense witnesses maintained that Sebastian suffered from a series of significant health issues that caused him to resign and look for other work.
At the conclusion of her two-hour closing argument Thursday, Durie asked the jury to acquit the defendant, and ``return this man to his home and
his work and his community."
According to the indictment, Sebastian became a professor of social work and public policy at USC -- despite lacking a graduate degree -- thanks to his father's allegedly unlawful dealings. He was later terminated over questions about his original appointment and concerns by the university over the $100,000 donation. He also obtained a full-tuition scholarship and graduate school admission, court papers show.
Flynn, 84, of Los Feliz, pleaded guilty in September to one count of bribery, admitting that she agreed to disguise and funnel $100,000 from the then-supervisor to USC, then to United Ways of California, which ultimately passed the money on to Sebastian's nonprofit. The longtime dean of the USC School of Social Work, who departed in 2018, is scheduled to be sentenced June 26.
Jurors were not told that Flynn pleaded guilty in the case, and her plea agreement did not require her to testify at the Ridley-Thomas trial.
Ridley-Thomas previously served on the Los Angeles City Council from 1991-2002, then serving in the state Assembly and state Senate before he was elected to the powerful county Board of Supervisors in 2008, serving until 2020, when he returned to the City Council.
He has a doctorate in social ethics from USC and spent 10 years as executive director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Greater Los Angeles, beginning in 1981.
He was suspended from the City Council following the October 2021 federal indictment that also named Flynn as co-defendant.
NBCLA's Jonathan Lloyd contributed to this report.
