LOS ANGELES — Federal prosecutors finished presenting evidence in their corruption case Friday against suspended Los Angeles City Councilmember Mark Ridley-Thomas, clearing the way for the powerful lawmaker's defense to share its side of the case next week.
The case centers on votes and official actions that Ridley-Thomas took as a member of L.A. County's five-member Board of Supervisors that prosecutors allege were favorable to the University of Southern California and done in exchange for benefits to his son, a former state assemblyman.
Among the benefits that Sebastian Ridley-Thomas received were admission to the School of Social Work, a full-tuition scholarship, a part-time job as a professor at USC's social work and public policy programs, and the routing of a $100,000 donation through the university to a nonprofit he was running, prosecutors allege.
