Politics

Former USC dean pleads guilty in bribery case connected to LA city council member’s son

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On Monday, a former University of Southern California dead pleaded guilty in bribery case, which involved a high-ranking politician who said he would guarantee a multi-million contract to the school in return for this son being granted both a scholarship and a faculty position.

Marilyn Flynn, 83, served as dean of USC’s School of Social Work from 1997 to 2018. Flynn made a plea deal with prosecutors and confessed to arranging for $100,000 to be illegally funneled on behalf of Mark Ridley-Thomas in 2018, when he served on the LA County Board of Supervisors.

Flynn and Ridley-Thomas, who now serves on the Los Angeles City Council, were charged last year. Ridley-Thomas’s trial has been penciled in for November. He has been charged with fraud, bribery and conspiracy. He pleaded not guilty last October, only a matter of hours after being suspended and his salary stopped.

Federal prosecutors said that Mark Ridley-Thomas said he would lend his support to a lucrative amendment to a county contract for USC’s School of Social Work, provided that they would assist his son, Sebastian Ridley-Thomas, with both a scholarship and a guaranteed teaching job.

Flynn agreed and said that both a full-tuition scholarship and a paid professorship would be offered a plan to funnel $100,000 was then devised.  

Sebastian Ridley-Thomas worked as a Assemblyman, however he resigned on the last day of 2017 after accusations were made about him sexually assaulting a Capitol staffer. The $100,000 was then given to his organization, which was known as the Policy, Research & Practice Initiative.

He was later given a $26,000 scholarship for 2018 and was offered a paid teaching position with a $50,000 salary. Authorities said that being both a student and a member of the faculty would violate the school’s policy.

“Ridley-Thomas allegedly wanted to help secure paid employment for his relative to minimize any public fallout for them both in the wake of the sudden resignation from office,” as per a United States attorney’s office statement from last year.

Flynn, who could have been incarcerated for up-to 10 years in federal prison, pleaded guilty to one count of bribery. Under the plea agreement, prosecutors will recommend home confinement rather than prison for Flynn and a fine not exceeding $150,000 when she is sentenced next March.

USC hasn’t been accused of any crime or wrongdoing in this case. 

ARTICLE: PAUL MURDOCH

MANAGING EDITOR: CARSON CHOATE 

PHOTO CREDITS: LA TIMES

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Paul Murdoch

Paul, 37, is from Scotland in the UK, but currently lives and works in Bangkok. Paul has worked in different industries such as telemarketing, retail, hospitality, farming, insurance, and teaching, where he works now. He teaches at an all-girls High School in Bangkok. “It’s a lot of work, but I love my job.” Paul has an active interest in politics. His reason for writing for FBA is to offer people the facts and allow them to make up their own minds. Whilst he believes opinion columns have their place, it is also important that people can have accurate news with no bias.

Paul, 37, is from Scotland in the UK, but currently lives and works in Bangkok. Paul has worked in different industries such as telemarketing, retail, hospitality, farming, insurance, and teaching, where he works now. He teaches at an all-girls High School in Bangkok. “It’s a lot of work, but I love my job.” Paul has an active interest in politics. His reason for writing for FBA is to offer people the facts and allow them to make up their own minds. Whilst he believes opinion columns have their place, it is also important that people can have accurate news with no bias.

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