Democratic Los Angeles City Councilman Curren Price is facing multiple corruption charges, according to authorities who announced Tuesday.
The charges include five counts of grand theft by embezzlement, three counts of perjury, and two counts of conflict of interest. Price is the fourth Los Angeles current or former council member to face criminal charges in the last four years.
Price, who served on L.A. City Council, for a decade, is accused of voting on development projects in which he had a financial interest and collecting medical benefits for his now-wife while he was still married to his former wife. Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascn released a statement alleging that Prices wife, Del Richardson Price, operated a consulting company that collected payments totaling more than $150,000 between 2019 and 2021 from developers before he voted to approve projects.
The complaint further alleged that Richardson Prices consulting firm received approximately $35,000 in 2019 from a company incorporated by developer Thomas Safran & Associates. Price later voted to fund a $4.6 million real estate project involving the company. Safran, however, denied any knowledge of the matter, stating, I dont know anything about it. I do know Del Richardson.
Price was charged with perjury for allegedly failing to disclose the income that his wife received on government financial disclosure forms. Additionally, he was accused of receiving about $33,000 in medical premiums for Del Richardson from 2013 to 2017, despite being legally married to Lynn Suzette Green.
These alleged actions undermine the integrity of our government and erode the publics trust in our elected officials, said Gascn. Price announced that he would be stepping down from his position following the charges but did not explicitly confirm that he would give up his seat.
In a letter to City Council President Paul Krekorian, Price wrote, While I navigate through the judicial system to defend my name against unwarranted charges filed against me, the last thing I want to do is be a distraction to the peoples business. However, Krekorian announced that he plans to move to suspend Price.
Richardson Price did not respond to a request for comment. In an official statement, Prices office said, We have not seen the charges filed against Councilmember Curren Price. Its highly unusual for charges like this to be brought up against a sitting City Councilmember without any prior notice or discussion.
Curren Price is a long-standing public servant who has given his life to the City of Los Angeles. He looks forward to defending himself once hes had an opportunity to address these charges, his office added. The charges against Price are a severe blow to the publics trust in elected officials and the integrity of the government.
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