Los Angeles City Councilmember Curren Price pleaded not guilty Friday in the public corruption case stemming from allegations he misused public funds and failed to disclose financial interests.
He was ordered to return to court June 5 for a pretrial hearing on a dozen felony counts, including grand theft by embezzlement of public funds, conflict of interest and perjury.
Price faces up to 11 years and four months in custody if convicted. That includes up to nine years and four months in state prison and up to two years in county jail, according to the L.A. County District Attorney’s Office.
Superior Court Judge Shelly Torrealba on Jan. 28 rejected a defense motion to dismiss the entire case, saying she found “sufficient cause” for the matter against Price to proceed to trial.
The 75-year-old Ninth District councilman, who has served since 2013 after time in the Assembly and state Senate, has maintained his innocence.
His attorney, Michael Schafler, told reporters outside court after the January hearing that he believed the prosecution’s case has “a lot of gaps, a lot of holes,” and that the defense believes that “Mr. Price will be vindicated and exonerated.”
In a 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.”
Angelina Valencia-Dumarot, executive director of communications for Price, said in the statement, “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.”
In his own statement, District Attorney Nathan Hochman called the judge’s ruling “a significant step toward holding L.A. Councilmember Curren Price accountable for years of alleged corruption.”
“… The rules are clear: elected officials cannot enrich themselves at the expense of their constituents, cannot lie on disclosure forms, and cannot vote on matters in which they have a conflict of interest,” Hochman added.
Price pleaded not guilty to the initial 10 charges in December 2023, with two more charges filed against him last year.
The council member is accused of failing to list money that a company solely owned by his current wife, Delbra Pettice Richardson, received as a subcontractor from some developers — along with the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority — which had pending matters before the City Council and failing to recuse himself from voting in favor of those projects. He allegedly failed to disclose information about the payments to Del Richardson & Associates on a form filed with the California Fair Political Practices Commission.
Price 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.
The council member’s attorney had asked the judge to dismiss all of the charges, arguing that “it’s our view that the evidence is insufficient.”
Price is the latest Los Angeles city official to fall into legal or political turmoil.
Former council members Jose Huizar and Mitch Englander both pleaded guilty to federal charges in recent years, while former Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas was convicted in 2023 of federal charges for trading votes during his time on the county Board of Supervisors in exchange for benefits provided by USC to his son.
Former City Council President Nury Martinez resigned in 2022 after being caught on tape making racist remarks in a conversation with two other council members and a county labor official, discussing the council’s redistricting process.