LA City Councilmember Curren Price comes out swinging against charges of corruption

Los Angeles City Councilmember Curren Price said on Wednesday, June 21, that it would be “inappropriate” for a city council committee that’s meeting this Friday to recommend suspending him from his seat on the council until he’s had a chance to address corruption charges recently filed against him.

Wednesday’s statement from Price, a third-term councilmember who represents Angelenos in South L.A. and a part of downtown in Council District 9, marked his first public comment since Tuesday, June 13, when the county District Attorney’s Office charged him with 10 counts of embezzlement, perjury and conflict of interest.

“I have lived my entire life in public service honorably and with no other focus than the best interests of my constituents. As such, I am eager to respond both to the misguided charges that have been filed against me, and the unfair aspersions that have been cast upon my wife. I am confident that the court, and any fair observers, will recognize that these charges are unwarranted,” Price said in his statement.

“Until I have had an opportunity to address the charges in court, it is inappropriate for the Rules, Elections, and Intergovernmental Relations Committee to recommend my suspension from the City Council,” he continued. “While I respect that Council President Krekorian has to take any allegations against a member of the Council seriously, I am presumed innocent, as indeed I am, and the best way to protect the voices and concerns of those in my District is to allow me and my dedicated staff to continue to serve the needs of District 9.”

The City Council’s rules committee is expected to consider suspending Price while his case makes its way through the legal system. Any decisions the committee makes would just be a recommendation; the full council would still need to decide what it ultimately wants to do.

Price previously called the charges against him “unwarranted” and is expected to be arraigned July 13.

He’s accused of getting the city to pay for about $33,800 in medical premiums between 2013 and 2017 for his partner, Del Richardson, to whom he claimed to be married while he was still married to his first wife, Lynn Suzette Price.

Court records show Price filed for divorce from his first wife in 2011, but the matter was not finalized, potentially due to an error, until February 2018. The Los Angeles Times questioned the divorce in 2017 and a campaign spokesman at the time said Price believed his divorce had been completed.

Last week’s complaint from the D.A. additionally said that between 2019 and 2021, the consulting firm Del Richardson & Associates, which belongs to Price’s second wife, was paid more than $150,000 by developers. After the payments, Price voted on issues involving those developers, according to the complaint. Price also allegedly failed to report those connections, or the money paid to his wife’s company, on city disclosure forms.

Although Price said last week that he intends to defend his name, he voluntarily stepped down as president pro tempore, and from all of his council committee assignments, shortly after learning of the charges. He said he did not want to be “a distraction” on the council.

The council named Councilmember Marqueece Harris-Dawson as its new president pro tempore on Tuesday.