Leading L.A. Democrat Facing Charges of Embezzling $800,000

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office has filed two new public corruption charges against Los Angeles City Councilmember Curren Price after uncovering evidence that the city’s housing authority and LA Metro paid Price’s wife more than $800,000 total at the same time Price voted to award the agencies multimillion-dollar contracts.

Curren De Mille Price Jr. has been the Los Angeles City Councilmember for the Ninth District since 2013. Like all other councilmembers, he is prohibited from having a financial interest associated with any project that comes before the City Council.

Price … was charged on June 13, 2023, in case BA515782 with five felony counts of embezzlement of government funds, three felony counts of perjury and two felony counts of conflict of interest.

The 10 felony counts allege that Del Richardson & Associates, a company owned solely by Price’s wife, Delbra Pettice Richardson, received payments totaling more than $150,000 between 2019 and 2021 from developers before he voted to approve projects.

Price is also accused of embezzling approximately $33,800 in city funds from 2013-2017 to pay for medical benefits for Richardson, who he falsely claimed was his wife while still legally married to Lynn Suzette Price.

Between October 22, 2019, and June 30, 2020, the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles allegedly paid Del Richardson & Associates about $609,600. During that same period, Curren Price voted to approve a $35 million federal grant and supported a $252 million state grant application for the agency, despite his staff having flagged a potential conflict of interest beforehand.

From October 27, 2020, to October 20, 2021, LA Metro reportedly paid Del Richardson & Associates roughly $219,500. During that time, Price introduced and voted in favor of a motion to allocate $30 million to LA Metro. His staff had also flagged the conflict prior to the votes.

Prosecutors further allege that Price used his position in city government to direct city lease agreements and more than $2 million in federal COVID-19 relief grants to the nonprofit Home at Last. At the time of the votes, Home at Last was a paying tenant of the Urban Healthcare Project, where Price was serving as CEO. The funds were intended to support homelessness initiatives.