Mark Ridley-Thomas, Bribery & Fraud, California 2024

LOS ANGELES – A longtime politician and a former university dean have been indicted on federal corruption charges, alleging a bribery scheme in which a relative of the politician received substantial benefits from the university in exchange for the politician’s support of county contracts and lucrative contract amendments.

Mark Ridley-Thomas, a 66-year-old Los Angeles resident and member of the Los Angeles City Council, and Marilyn Louise Flynn, an 83-year-old Los Angeles resident and former dean of the School of Social Work at a university in Southern California, were informed of the indictment this afternoon and have agreed to appear for their arraignments in United States District Court in the coming weeks.

The 20-count indictment alleges that Ridley-Thomas conspired with Flynn to provide Ridley-Thomas’s relative with graduate school admission, a full-tuition scholarship, a paid professorship, and a mechanism to funnel Ridley-Thomas campaign funds through the university to a non-profit to be operated by the relative.

In exchange, the indictment alleges, Ridley-Thomas supported contracts involving the Social Work School, including contracts to provide services to the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) and Probation Department, as well as an amendment to a contract with the Department of Mental Health (DMH) that would bring the school millions of dollars in new revenue.

“This indictment charges a seasoned lawmaker who allegedly abused the public’s trust by taking official actions to benefit his family member and himself,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Tracy L. Wilkison. “The corrupt activities alleged in the indictment were facilitated by a major university’s high-ranking administrator whose desire for funding apparently trumped notions of integrity and fair play.

“This investigation should send a message to public officials that government contracts are not for sale,” said Kristi K. Johnson, the Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office. “This indictment reaffirms the FBI’s commitment to rooting out corruption by holding accountable those who abuse the trust of the people they serve and who exploit their powerful positions to obtain benefits at the expense of taxpayers.

According to the indictment, the bribery scheme took place in 2017 and 2018, when Ridley-Thomas was a supervisor and his relative was facing an internal sexual harassment investigation in the California State Assembly, likely to resign from elected office, and was significantly in debt. 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.

The Social Work School was facing a multimillion-dollar budget deficit, which threatened the school’s viability as well as Flynn’s position and reputation as the school’s longtime dean, according to the indictment.

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