Los Angeles City Councilmember Curren Price finds himself in deep water, facing additional charges on top of existing counts of embezzlement, perjury, and conflict of interest from 2023. Prosecutors claim that Price’s wife owned a company, Del Richardson & Associates, which received $800,000 from the city’s housing authority and LA Metro after Price cast key votes in favor of these contracts. Despite warnings about potential conflicts of interest, Price continued to back major grants that seemingly benefitted his wife’s business.
The allegations don’t stop there. Authorities assert that Price also directed over $2 million in COVID-19 grants to a nonprofit associated with his Urban Healthcare Project, further complicating his case. If convicted on all counts, Price could face an 11-year prison sentence. District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman did not hold back in his condemnation of Price, asserting, “Embezzling public funds and awarding contracts for your own financial gain is the antithesis of public service.” He added, “Our communities expect and deserve better from their public officials,” underscoring the depth of public frustration with such corruption.
An updated legal document lays out the extensive charges against Price. Initially charged on June 13, 2023, with eight felony counts, he now faces ten counts following prosecutors’ findings of further evidence. The investigation reportedly unveiled additional proof of Price’s self-dealing, as indicated by a statement revealing that between 2019 and 2021, Del Richardson & Associates received over $150,000 in payments from developers while Price voted to approve their projects.
The timeline of Price’s alleged activities is alarming. From October 22, 2019, to June 30, 2020, the City Housing Authority handed Del Richardson & Associates approximately $609,600 during a period when Price voted to support a significant federal grant for the agency. Moreover, between October 27, 2020, and October 20, 2021, LA Metro paid the company around $219,500, coinciding with Price’s favorable motion to award additional funding.
To make matters worse, the district attorney’s office revealed that Price may have used his influence to secure both lease agreements and substantial federal COVID-19 grants for Home at Last, a nonprofit that was a paying tenant of his Urban Healthcare Project at the time of these votes. The funds, designed for homeless assistance, were allegedly misappropriated to enrich Price and his connections. The unfolding situation paints a troubling picture of corruption at a local level, raising questions about accountability among public officials.
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