LA Councilman Curren Price must stand trial on public corruption charges

Los Angeles City Councilmember Curren Price was ordered Wednesday to stand trial on a collection of public corruption charges.

Following a multiday hearing, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Shelly Torrealba rejected a defense motion to dismiss the case, saying she found “sufficient cause” for the case against Price to proceed to trial.

The 9th District council member is charged with five counts of grand theft by embezzlement of public funds, four counts of conflict of interest and three counts of perjury by declaration.

Price, who has represented the South Los Angeles/Exposition Park district since 2013 after previously serving in the Assembly and state Senate, has maintained his innocence.

He remains free on his own recognizance while awaiting arraignment March 13 at the downtown Los Angeles courthouse.

In a written statement released shortly after the hearing, Price’s representative said, “The testimony presented during the hearing, including from key witnesses, clearly shows that Councilman Price did not act with any intent to do wrong and that the case rests on speculation rather than facts.

“While the court’s ruling is disappointing, the council member remains fully committed to fighting these charges, clearing his name, and is confident the truth will ultimately prevail,” Angelina Valencia-Dumarot, executive director of communications for Price, said in the statement.

Price is accused of failing to list money that a company solely owned by his wife, Delbra Pettice Richardson, received from developers and failing to recuse himself from voting to approve certain projects.

He is also accused of embezzling nearly $33,800 in city funds from 2013 to 2017 to pay for medical benefits for Richardson, whom he allegedly falsely claimed was his wife while he was still legally married to Lynn Suzette Price, according to the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office.

Defense attorney Michael Schafler had asked the judge to dismiss all the charges, arguing that “it’s our view that the evidence is insufficient.”

Addressing the conflict-of-interest charges, he acknowledged that the prosecution had established that “many mistakes were made.” But he said Price had a process in place in his office to determine potential conflicts of interest and was not notified unless his staff alerted him.

Price’s lawyer said there was “no evidence that Mr. Price acted with any wrongful intent,” arguing that the charges involved a “very isolated” section of Price’s voting and telling the judge that the council member’s votes involving those issues were not a deciding factor and that he had “nothing to gain.”

Deputy District Attorney Casey Higgins countered that Price had blamed “everyone” but himself.

The prosecutor told the judge that the council member was “trying to create this wall around himself.”

He argued that two witnesses called during the hearing were “trying to jump in front of the bus” for Price, for whom they had worked.

Price pleaded not guilty to the initial 10 charges in December 2023, with prosecutors subsequently adding two additional counts of conflict of interest last August.

He could face up to 11 years and four months in custody if convicted, including up to nine years and four months in state prison and up to two years in county jail, according to the District Attorney’s Office.

“Public officials will not violate the public trust on my watch,” District Attorney Nathan Hochman said in a statement last year shortly after Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Sean Coen rejected a challenge from the defense contesting the legal sufficiency of the complaint, a move that could have resulted in the dismissal of the case.

Price is the latest in a long line of L.A.-area lawmakers facing corruption allegations:

• A guilty verdict against suspended Los Angeles City Councilmember Mark Ridley-Thomas on March 30, 2023, was returned for actions he took as a powerful Los Angeles County supervisor.
• -Former City Councilmember Jose Huizar pleaded guilty in January 2023, and on Jan. 26, 2024, he was sentenced to 13 years in prison. He took more than $1.8 million in cash, gambling trips and escorts in exchange for supporting a proposed downtown hotel project that was never built. FBI agents in 2018 confiscated documents from Huizar’s office. Four years later he admitted to corruption.
• Former Los Angeles Deputy Mayor and high-ranking city official Raymond Chan was sentenced in October 2024 to 12 years in federal prison for racketeering conspiracy, bribery, and wire fraud.
• City Councilmember Mitchell Englander resigned his post and was later imprisoned in 2021, convicted of obstructing an FBI investigation into his acceptance of lavish gifts in Las Vegas from a businessman who sought favors from him. Records show he was released on Feb. 3, 2022.
• In 2020, George Esparza, a special aide to Huizar, pleaded guilty to a racketeering conspiracy charge involving billionaire developer Wei Huang, who sought to build a 77-story skyscraper in Huizar’s district.

City News Service contributed to this report