L.A. County prosecutors filed two additional corruption charges this week against City Councilman Curren Price, who already is facing multiple counts of grand theft and perjury, allegedly for voting in favor of projects in which his wife had a financial interest, authorities said Tuesday.<\/p>\n
In June 2023, Price was charged with 10 counts of grand theft by embezzlement, perjury and conflict of interest. Prosecutors said Price\u2019s wife \u2014 Del Richardson, founder of the consulting company Del Richardson & Associates \u2014 received \u201cpayments totaling more than $150,000 between 2019 and 2021 from developers before [Price] voted to approve projects.\u201d <\/p>\n
The perjury charges stem from a claim that Price didn\u2019t list his wife\u2019s income on disclosure forms. Prosecutors also accused Price of theft by embezzlement, alleging that he bilked the city out of tens of thousands of dollars by placing Richardson on his city-issued healthcare plan from 2013 to 2017, before they were legally married. <\/p>\n
In a statement issued late Tuesday, prosecutors said subpoenas issued since 2023 yielded evidence to support conflict charges related to two other votes that Price cast.<\/p>\n
From October 2019 to June 2020, Richardson was paid roughly $609,000 by the city housing authority, according to the district attorney\u2019s office. During the same time period, Price voted in favor of a \u201c$35 million federal grant and a state grant application for $252 million,\u201d according to the D.A.\u2019s news release.<\/p>\n
Prosecutors also allege Price authored a motion to give L.A. Metro $30 million from October 2020 to October 2021, a time frame in which Richardson was paid upward of $200,000 by the transit agency. <\/p>\n
\u201cEmbezzling public funds and awarding contracts for your own financial gain is the antithesis of public service,\u201d Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman said in a statement. \u201cOur communities expect and deserve better from their public officials.\u201d<\/p>\n
Price\u2019s attorney, Michael Schafler, called the new charges \u201cnothing more than an attempt to pile on to a weak case.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey 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,\u201d Schafler said in a statement.<\/p>\n
The original criminal complaint was filed roughly four years after a Times investigation found that Price had repeatedly cast votes that affected housing developers and other firms listed as clients of his wife\u2019s consulting firm.<\/p>\n