LOS ANGELES (AP) — A veteran Los Angeles politician was sentenced Monday to 3½ years in jail for a scheme wherein he sought advantages for his son in change for supporting profitable authorities contracts with the University of Southern California School of Social Work.
Mark Ridley-Thomas, most not too long ago a metropolis councilmember, was sentenced in U.S. District Court on seven felony convictions together with conspiracy, bribery and fraud for actions whereas he was a member of the highly effective Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.
Judge Dale S. Fischer additionally ordered Ridley-Thomas, 68, to pay a $30,000 high quality.
A jury in March discovered that Ridley-Thomas schemed in 2017 and 2018 with Marilyn Louise Flynn, then dean of USC’s School of Social Work, to funnel $100,000 from a Ridley-Thomas marketing campaign fund via the college to a nonprofit run by his son.
Prosecutors stated the son additionally obtained graduate college admission, a scholarship and a paid professorship in the middle of the conspiracy and bribery scheme.
Flynn, 84, pleaded responsible final 12 months to 1 depend of bribery and was sentenced to 1½ years of house confinement.
At sentencing, Ridley-Thomas apologized to his household and others within the courtroom, saying that he regretted his actions. He additionally maintained that they weren’t essentially unlawful.
“This case exists somewhere between what is clearly legal conduct on one end, and clearly illegal conduct on the other,” Ridley-Thomas stated, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The City Council suspended Ridley-Thomas in October 2021 after he was charged and his seat was declared vacant when he was convicted.
It was a surprising fall for a once-commanding determine in LA politics, who earlier served within the state Senate and Assembly, and was recognized for his involvement in civil rights.
Content Source: www.washingtontimes.com