Audit finds no systemic corruption in LA County contracting system

LOS ANGELES – An audit of Los Angeles County contracting processes – requested following the indictment of former Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas on fraud and bribery charges – has found no systemic pattern of corruption in the system, but auditors have made a series of recommendations to improve activities and supervision. This is evident from a report that will be presented today.

Ridley-Thomas was convicted last year of conspiracy, bribery, honest services mail fraud and four counts of wire fraud, stemming from a scheme in which prosecutors said he supported county contracts for USC while accepting benefits for his son from the university. He was sentenced to three years and six months in prison, but remains free pending his appeal.

Following his indictment in 2021, while Ridley-Thomas was serving on the Los Angeles City Council, the County Board of Supervisors voted to hire an outside firm to conduct a thorough audit of the contract processes and policies of the county. The board also called for a review of expensive contracts awarded by the province between 2008 and 2020 to check for possible irregularities.

Mark Ridley-Thomas, then Los Angeles County Supervisor, at the County Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday, March 10, 2020. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

In early 2022, the county hired the Covington law firm to conduct the audit.

According to a report to be presented to the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, Covington’s analysis “revealed no pattern of corruption and fraud within the contracting process for county services during the relevant period.” However, auditors identified several “opportunities for process improvement in the county’s systems and controls.”

Issues cited included the lack of a “centralized repository of complete and accurate contract data and documents for all contracts,” the lack of a thorough “due diligence and vetting process” for current and prospective contractors, and contract monitoring issues at several contracts. provincial departments.

Auditors made a series of recommendations for improvements, including:

— continue ongoing efforts to centralize contract documents and data;

— improve procedures to improve competition in the awarding and renewal of contracts;

— improve contract monitoring procedures;

— implement a standardized and robust due diligence process for current and potential suppliers;

— evaluate the resources of the auditor-controller; And

— review and improve liability procedures for contractors.

The auditors also recommended that the province create a chief ethics and compliance officer, something the province is already working toward with the creation of an ethics committee. The creation of an Ethics Commission and creation of a compliance officer would also be written into the county charter if voters approve Measure G on the Nov. 5 ballot.

Among other recommendations, the audit also calls for “contract-specific” ethics and conflict of interest training for supervisors, deputies and other senior staff.

Ridley-Thomas has continued to maintain his innocence, although he apologized to his family and constituents at his sentencing hearing last year for causing the “perception that I deviated from proper conduct.” He said the actions he took that led to his conviction were “unwise, but not illegal.”

The charges stemmed from what prosecutors called a “quid pro quo” arrangement between Ridley-Thomas and Marilyn Flynn, a former head of the USC School of Social Work, accusing the politician of steering county contracts to the school in in exchange for benefits provided to Ridley. Thomas’ son, former councilor Sebastian Ridley-Thomas.

Federal prosecutors based their case on a lengthy series of emails and letters to substantiate allegations that Ridley-Thomas and Flynn struck a deal in 2017 and 2018 in which Flynn, in return, arranged Sebastian’s admission to USC, a scholarship for full tuition and a paid professorship. for his father’s support for provincial proposals that would ostensibly reinforce the school’s poor financial picture.

Flynn pleaded guilty to one count of bribery and admitted that she agreed to disguise and funnel $100,000 from the then-supervisor to USC and then to United Ways of California, which eventually passed the money on to a nonprofit run by Sebastian.

She was sentenced last year to 18 months of house arrest and had to pay a $150,000 fine.