Los Angeles Magazine | J Armond/LAT/Getty
Ridley-Thomas faces 19 criminal counts. Authorities allege that, while a member of the County Board of Supervisors, he conspired with then-USC School of Social Work Dean Marilyn Flynn on a scheme to admit his son—former state Assemblyman Sebastian Ridley-Thomas—to a graduate school program and provide him with a scholarship and paid teaching position. In return, prosecutors assert, Ridley-Thomas agreed to direct hefty county contracts to the school.