Closing arguments offered at trial Ridley-Thomas, who faces 19 federal counts, including conspiracy, bribery, and honest services mail and wire fraud.
Suspended Los Angeles City Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas sold his vote while serving as a county supervisor for a series of benefits for his son, a federal prosecutor told a downtown jury on Thursday, March 23, but a defense lawyer countered that nothing the longtime politician did was illegal.
“I don’t think the evidence that was presented by the government was the whole story. I think they left out some pretty important pieces,” Durie said. Prosecutors contend the politician wanted to provide the money to support his son’s nonprofit, but didn’t want the funds linked to him or his campaign. So he agreed to provide the money to Flynn, who sent $100,000 in university funds to the nonprofit, known as the Policy, Research & Practice Initiative.
Flynn pleaded guilty in September to one count of bribery, admitting that she agreed to steer money from the then-supervisor to Sebastian’s nonprofit. Dotson on Thursday said Ridley-Thomas “monetized” and abused the power of his office and lied to cover it up in order to give his son an alternate story for why he resigned from the Assembly — and save the family name.
Prosecutors said that in exchange for Flynn arranging Sebastian’s admission to USC, a full-tuition scholarship and a paid professorship, the father delivered on his end of the bargain. As a supervisor in 2017 and 2018, he voted on three county proposals that Flynn had sought to shore up her school’s shoddy financial situation, including a vote approving a lucrative amended Telehealth agreement with the USC School of Social Work, prosecutors contend.
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