NEWS

Scandal News: Ex-USC Dean Agrees To Guilty Plea

The former dean of USC’s school of social work agreed to plead guilty to a federal charge that she bribed longtime politician Mark Ridley-Thomas by funneling $100,000 he provided from his campaign account through USC to a nonprofit operated by his son to obtain a lucrative county contract, the Justice Department announced today.

Marilyn Louise Flynn, 83, of Los Feliz, agreed to plead guilty to one count of bribery and pay a fine of no less than $100,000. She is expected to plead guilty to the charge in the coming weeks.

Flynn will face a statutory maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison. Prosecutors agreed to recommend she satisfy her custodial term by way of home confinement and also have agreed to seek a fine of no more than $150,000 against Flynn.

  • From the Justice Dept: ” According to her plea agreement, from 1997 to 2018, Flynn was a tenured faculty member at USC and the dean of its social work school. In 2018, Flynn was seeking an amendment to an existing contract between USC’s social work school and the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health (DMH) related to services provided by USC Telehealth. Telehealth was a clinic in which social work school students provided online mental health and counseling services to patients referred by the county. USC and the social work school received compensation in return for services rendered. According to the indictment, at the time Flynn sought the lucrative county contract amendment, the social work school was facing a multimillion-dollar budget deficit.

“At Ridley-Thomas’s request, Flynn agreed to have USC serve as a conduit for a $100,000 payment from his campaign account to the social work school. Per their agreement, Flynn then arranged for a nearly simultaneous $100,000 payment from USC to the United Ways of California for the benefit of the Policy, Research & Practice Initiative (PRPI), a new nonprofit initiative led by Ridley-Thomas’s son, who had recently and abruptly resigned from his elected position in the California State Assembly. According to the indictment, Ridley-Thomas’s son resigned while the subject of an internal sexual harassment investigation and needed funds to support PRPI, which Ridley-Thomas hoped to supply but without any public connection to himself or his campaign account.

“To facilitate their scheme, Flynn and Ridley-Thomas concealed from USC that Ridley-Thomas had directed a $100,000 payment to USC with the intent that the funds be used to support USC’s nearly simultaneous $100,000 payment to United Ways and PRPI, the plea agreement states. Had it known this fact, USC would not have approved the $100,000 payment.”

20 thoughts on “Scandal News: Ex-USC Dean Agrees To Guilty Plea”

    1. Football news? What a novel thought!

      Sam Greene, 6’2″, 255 lb D lineman commits to USC. A 3 star, but we are watching him play tonight and he is taking apart the offensive backfield of the opponent. Also a lacrosse player. Maybe another Tuli in the making.

      Like

      Reply

  2. I know Mark and I am suprised. He received his Ph. D. from the School of Social Ethics. A very smart man. I called him since he is a USC grad and told me he was innocent. I am really surprised, if these charges are true, that he was do this. Does anyone else know Mark?

    Like

    Reply

      2. Charles,

        My questions to this are:

        Where does she live? We know that she does not live in South L.A., where it is very bad. I wonder if she lives next to Maxipad Walters in Hancock Park? How did the robbers know where to look for the guns and how did they know the security code to the safe? Could this be a set up so that she could look like a victim so she could get more votes? Knowing Gascon, they will be released by the end of the weekend.

        Liked by 1 person

  9. My dad took classes in 1969 with OJ Simpson. USC has a lot of bones in the closet AS ANY SCHOOL IN AMERICA HAS. Folks got away from having self control. The rest of us are culpable for letting this behavior ruin USC because we don’t ask for those in charge to be held responsible. Ridley Thomas pulled a Joe Biden and tried to baby his mediocre son from a mess that he created instead of letting him face the consequences. But Mark had always been shady for a former pastor. I wonder what happens when Biden’s dirt gets exposed. . . .

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  11. Somehow USC thinks it’s appropriate to give away advanced degrees on full scholarships to well heeled politicians who can easily afford their own tuition – did someone say “Karen Bass”? – and then they go through a watered down bogus program. The scandals that USC has had have involved a staggering cost and width. I think the football penalties regarding Reggie Bush were outrageous and undeserved. But things like this and that gyno doctor creep are inexcusable

    Like

    Reply

Leave a reply to Charles R Smith Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.