A jury Thursday found suspended Los Angeles City Councilmember Mark Ridley-Thomas guilty of bribery and conspiracy in his federal corruption trial. Jurors also found Ridley-Thomas guilty of one count of mail fraud and four counts of wire fraud.
He was found not guilty on one mail fraud count and 11 wire fraud counts.
Prosecutors said Ridley-Thomas engaged in a conspiracy with Marilyn Flynn, dean of USC’s School of Social Work, in which he supported a lucrative county contract and two other potentially beneficial initiatives for the school in exchange for the dean providing his son with admission, a scholarship and a faculty job.
In her closing argument, Assistant U.S. Attorney Lindsey Dotson acknowledged there was no single document that laid out the conspiracy. She instead pointed to a flurry of emails and calls between Ridley-Thomas and Flynn in 2017 and 2018 that she said revealed “winks and nods” — including one email with a winking emoji and another with a fist bump emoji.
There is “no question he acted corruptly,” Dotson said of Ridley-Thomas. “Public officials do not get to monetize their public service,” she said. “You can’t represent to other people that they have to pay to play.”
The alleged crimes occurred while Ridley-Thomas was a county supervisor.
Dotson said Ridley-Thomas was “constantly dangling county carrots to Marilyn Flynn” at a time when the School of Social Work was in financial trouble.
The prosecutor referred to one email Flynn wrote to a colleague regarding potential county money for the university in which Flynn wrote, ”I’m holding my breath. MRT is really trying to deliver here.”
Prosecutors also claim that…
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