LOS ANGELES (CN) — Three months after a jury found Mark Ridley-Thomas guilty of abusing his post as county supervisor by soliciting favors for his son from the University of Southern California in exchange help on county contracts, the veteran politician failed to persuade a federal judge to overturn his conviction.
U.S. District Judge Dale Fischer denied Ridley-Thomas's post-trial requests on Friday for acquittal or for a new trial.
The conviction of Ridley-Thomas rested in part on his vote in 2018 to extend and expand a Telehealth contract in which Los Angeles County referred patients to USC's School of Social Work for mental health services services. Ridley-Thomas argued without success meanwhile that the prosecution failed to provide sufficient evidence that such conduct constituted an official act.
"There is no question that Defendant performed a relevant 'official act' — he voted in favor of the amended Telehealth contract that benefited USC and Flynn," Fischer wrote. "Defendant argues that there was no evidence of Defendant’s vote, but the minutes of the relevant proceedings are in evidence. Those minutes show that Defendant voted 'aye' on the Telehealth extension."
The judge also rejected Ridley-Thomas' claim that his vote for the contract with USC wasn't "material," in terms of influencing others, because the contract extension wasn't controversial and would have been approved anyway.
"He was a member of the Board of Supervisors and had the direct ability to influence and, along with the other Supervisors, control the acts of the County of Los Angeles through his position," Fischer said. "While somewhat lost in the parties’ arguments, this is sufficiently material for the purposes of honest services fraud."
An attorney for Ridley-Thomas didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on the ruling.
After a two-week trial in March, a federal jury in downtown LA found Ridley-Thomas 68, guilty of bribery and conspiracy as well as several counts of honest services wire fraud.
Prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney's Office in LA accused Ridley-Thomas of scheming in 2017 and 2018, while he served on the county Board of Supervisors, with Marilyn Dean, who at the time was dean of the USC School of Social Work, to get a prestigious position for his son Sebastian.
The goal, according to the prosecution, was to deflect attention from Sebastian's abrupt resignation from the California Assembly in 2017, claiming health issues, amid that The Los Angeles Times later revealed was a sexual harassment investigation into staffers' complaints.
In exchange for Ridley-Thomas' support in getting the School of Social Work lucrative contracts with the county, dean Flynn provided Sebastian Ridley-Thomas with admission to the school's master's program in 2018 and a full-ride scholarship to the private university — a more than $100,000 benefit — as well as a paid professorship to teach at USC while he was a student.
Though prosecutors pointed to the benefit that USC's School of Social Work received from three Board of Supervisors agenda items Ridley-Thomas supported in 2017 and 2018, defense attorneys had argued that these items were uncontroversial and passed without dissent.
Ridley-Thomas was the executive director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Greater Los Angeles for 10 years before his 1991 election to the City Council, representing the Eighth District in South LA. After almost 12 years on the City Council, Ridley-Thomas spend six years in Sacramento, first in the state Assembly and then in the Senate.
He served on the LA County Board of Supervisors for 12 years, becoming the first Black man to be elected to that body in 2008. Ridley-Thomas returned to the City Council in 2021 but was suspended last year upon his indictment.
The veteran politician is one of a number of high-profile LA politicians and public servants ensnared in corruption investigations by the FBI in recent years. Earlier this year, former City Council member José Huizar agreed to plead guilty rather than go on trial on charges of soliciting large bribes and other favors from real estate developers hoping to build ambitious projects in downtown LA.
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