Son of L.A. councilman indicted in USC scandal backed Gloria's mayoral campaign

An ex-state Assembly Democrat who last year kicked in $1150 to help onetime colleague Todd Gloria get elected mayor is the latest player in the University of Southern California's long-running admission bribery scandals.

Plagued by mounting debt and a sexual harassment investigation that ultimately forced him to resign, Sebastian Ridley-Thomas was the illicit beneficiary of 2017 actions by his more famous and influential father, longtime politico Mark Ridley-Thomas, according to federal prosecutors.

Now an L.A. city councilman, the elder Ridley-Thomas, then a county supervisor, allegedly arranged for millions in government contracts to benefit USC dean Marilyn Flynn's social work program. The aim: to get his son a faculty gig and grad school scholarship at the university.

An October 13 indictment names Mark Ridley-Thomas and Flynn as defendants in the case.

"At least in or around November 2017, defendant [Mark Ridley-Thomas] and [Sebastian Ridley-Thomas] were aware of the [sexual harassment] investigation, which was not public at the time, and knew that [Sebastian] would likely resign from the State Assembly," says the indictment.

"The evidence includes bank transfers, flouted university policies, a chain of emails from nongovernment accounts and procurement votes in the supervisors' chambers," notes an October 15 Los Angeles Times dispatch.

"At no point in his career as an elected official — not as a member of the City Council, the state Legislature, or the Board of Supervisors — has he abused his position for personal gain," the elder Ridley-Thomas's lawyer Michael J. Proctor told the paper in a statement.

But prosecutors maintain otherwise, charging that "Defendant [Mark Ridley-Thomas] would solicit, demand, accept, and agree to accept direct and indirect financial benefits from defendant Flynn and other University officials for the benefit of defendants [Mark Ridley-Thomas, Sebastian Ridley-Thomas], and others, in exchange for official acts to benefit defendant Flynn and the University."

As noted here on September 15 of last year, Sebastian Ridley-Thomas had been tied to the problematic arrangements and fired from his USC job in July 2018, as reported by the L.A. Times in August of that year.

"A biography posted April 9 on the Sol Price School of Public Policy website and since removed described Ridley-Thomas as 'a millennial servant-leader' who 'works with university stakeholders to advance knowledge of diverse populations, intersectional research, the millennial generation, and innovative public policy," the account added.

A San Diego city disclosure filing dated September 13, 2020, showed that Sebastian came up with $1150 to the Gloria for Mayor 2020 campaign the day before. His occupation was listed as Principal & Consultant at Millennial Advisors.

Registered as a lobbyist with the California Secretary of State's office from January 9, 2019, through February 5 that year, his sole client was listed as another influencer peddling outfit, Lucien Partners, whose clients included the L.A. Police Protective League, San Francisco Police Protective League, and the L.A. Unified School District.

Lucien Partners’ proprietor Darryl Lucien gave $750 to Gloria's mayoral election fund on September 17 of last year.