Ninth Circuit Affirms Bribery Conviction of Los Angeles Veteran Politician

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the federal bribery and honest-services fraud convictions of longtime Los Angeles politician Mark Ridley-Thomas. The appellate judges held that a $100,000 contribution funneled from Ridley-Thomas’s ballot committee through USC’s School of Social Work to a United Way-sponsored nonprofit created for his son, Sebastian, constituted a “thing of value” sufficient for a bribery conviction.

The panel dismissed Ridley-Thomas’s argument that the payment was his own money and therefore not a bribe, emphasizing the illicit benefit tied to his support for a county telehealth services amendment. Evidence showed USC dean Marilyn Flynn helped secure a full-tuition scholarship and faculty appointment for Sebastian in exchange for the politician’s backing of the contract. The court’s per curiam opinion noted the indirect donation was an impermissible quid pro quo. Ridley-Thomas, who was sentenced to three and a half years but remained out on bail pending appeal, is now exploring an en banc review, while the Los Angeles U.S. attorney’s office declined to comment.