Los Angeles councilmember slapped with corruption charges for allegedly embezzling $800K with wife

An embattled Los Angeles city councilmember was slapped with new corruption charges after he and his wife allegedly embezzled $800,000 meant for housing and public transit.

Councilman Curren Price was formally charged Tuesday with two counts of corruption for allegedly voting to approve the city’s housing authority and metro service for fat state and federal grants — in exchange for nearly $1 million in payouts to his wife’s consulting firm between 2019 and 2021.

Price was already in hot water: The pol, endorsed by Mayor Karen Bass, was facing charges of grand theft, perjury, and conflict of interest for votes on projects that allegedly resulted in $150,000 in kickbacks to his wife, Del Richardson.

“Embezzling public funds and awarding contracts for your own financial gain is the antithesis of public service,” Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said in a statement.

Prosecutors claim the LA City Housing Authority paid Richardson’s company — Del Richardson & Associates — more than $600,000 over a nine-month period in 2019 and 2020.

In the same period, Price voted to approve the department for $35 million in federal grant money and $252 million from the state.

From 2020 to 2021, LA Metro paid Richardson’s firm around $200,000; meanwhile, Price “brought and voted in favor of” a motion to award LA Metro $30 million in public funds, the prosecutors allege.

Price also allegedly funneled $2 million in funds to a housing nonprofit he was serving as CEO for during the COVID-19 pandemic, the DA added.

Price’s attorney Michael Schafler dismissed the new allegations as a political hit job based on cherry-picked voting records.

“They have gone back as much as 6 years, combing through thousands and thousands of votes, to find a couple more allegedly conflicted votes, hoping that the public will overlook the fact that there is no evidence whatsoever that Councilmember Price was aware of the alleged conflicts when he voted for the agenda items,” Schafler said in a statement to the Los Angeles Times.

But the DA’s office claims Price’s own staffers flagged the votes as potential problems.

Price was elected in 2013 and re-elected in 2017 with the endorsement of Mayor Karen Bass. 

The charges against him add to a mountain of scandals within Los Angeles’ government.

In 2023, the same year Price faced his first batch of charges, former Councilmember Jose Huizar pleaded guilty to racketeering and tax evasion, and veteran city politician Mark Ridley-Thomas was sentenced to federal prison for a bribery scheme in which he sought favors for his son from a university dean in exchange for political favors.

Last year, Mayor Bass appointed fellow progressive Janisse Quinones as head of the water and power department, paying her a roughly $750,000 salary — almost double what her predecessor made.

And in February, Bass fired Fire Chief Kristin Crowley for her bungled response to the Palisades Fire – less than three years after Crowley’s predecessor resigned amid allegations of racism and sexism in the upper echelons of the fire department.