Whipped Cream Difficulties

Giggle. Snort. Both Mike the Musicologist and Lawrence sent this to me.

Los Angeles City Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas was indicted Wednesday on federal charges that he took bribes from a USC dean in exchange for directing millions of dollars in public funding to the university when he was on the L.A. County Board of Supervisors.

Also charged: Marilyn Louise Flynn, “who at the time was dean of USC’s School of Social Work”.

In a 20-count indictment, he and Flynn face charges of conspiracy, bribery and mail and wire fraud.

But what exactly did they do?

The indictment comes three years after The Times revealed that USC had provided a scholarship to Sebastian Ridley-Thomas and appointed him as a professor around the time that his father, while serving as a county supervisor, had funneled campaign money through the university that ended up in a nonprofit group run by his son.

Allegedly, the senior Ridley-Thomas funneled about $100,000 to USC.

The Times reported that USC alerted federal prosecutors to the unusual arrangement after an internal investigation. It also described the intense budget pressure Flynn was under at the time of the alleged scheme with Mark Ridley-Thomas in large part because of her embrace of online degree programs.
Under her tenure as dean, USC’s social work program became the largest in the world, growing from an enrollment of 900 in 2010 to 3,500 in 2016.
That growth, however, was achieved largely through a partnership with a digital learning startup that received more than half of the tuition that students paid for a master’s degree through the school’s online program. The profit-sharing required Flynn to aggressively raise money and seek government contracts to increase revenue.
To fill the online ranks, the school began admitting less qualified students, who sometimes struggled to do the work and who ultimately drove down the rankings of the once-prestigious program. In 2019, USC was forced to lay off social work professors and staff members.

More fun: Ridley-Thomas is the third council member to be indicted in the past two years.

The council has been mired in corruption scandals. Former L.A. Councilman Jose Huizar is awaiting trial on racketeering, bribery, money laundering and other charges. Prosecutors allege he headed up a criminal enterprise involving multiple real estate developers looking to build projects in his downtown district when he was on the council. Huizar and a former deputy mayor who was indicted with him have pleaded not guilty and are seeking to have many of the charges dismissed.
In a related case, former Councilman Mitchell Englander is serving a 14-month prison sentence after pleading guilty to lying to federal authorities about cash and other gifts that he received in casinos in Las Vegas and near Palm Springs.

And even more fun: USC has other issues.

Its former medical school dean was exposed as a user of methamphetamine, heroin and other drugs, and the longtime campus gynecologist was accused of sexual misconduct by hundreds of alumnae, leading to a $1.1-billion settlement, the largest sex abuse payout in the history of higher education.

And the cherry on top:

Sebastian Ridley-Thomas, now 34, was tens of thousands of dollars in debt at the time, according to the indictment, which identifies him only as “MRT Relative 1.” In December 2017, he resigned as a state assemblyman, citing unspecified health problems. In fact, he was under investigation for allegations of sexual harassment.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 14th, 2021 at 3:20 pm and is filed under California Über Alles, Law, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.