once a towering figure in Los Angeles politics, Mark Ridley Thomas sentenced to prison

[Demovictory9]

Once a powerful African American politician..he greased the wheels for his son at usc. His son won office then stepped down with secual harrassment scandal.

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-08-28/ridley-thomas-sentencing


A federal judge has sentenced Mark Ridley-Thomas, once a towering figure in Los Angeles politics, to 42 months in prison, marking a shameful final chapter in his long career as a local power broker and advocate for civil rights and racial equity.

The decision was made Monday morning by U.S. District Judge Dale S. Fischer, an appointee of George W. Bush who presided over Ridley-Thomas’ criminal trial in March. In addition to serving the 3 1/2 years in prison, the former politician was fined $30,000 and will be subject to three years of supervised release.


“Ridley-Thomas’ motive was to benefit his son and himself ... he was willing to betray the trust placed in him by the community to do so,” Fischer said in court.

Jurors had convicted Ridley-Thomas of seven felonies — bribery, conspiracy, four counts of honest services wire fraud, and one count of honest services mail fraud — in a scheme in which he extracted benefits from USC for himself and his son while on L.A. County’s powerful Board of Supervisors. The jury acquitted Ridley-Thomas of 12 other charges related to a scholarship and a professorship that his son, Sebastian, received from USC.