The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office charged Curren Price, a city councilman, with embezzlement and perjury on Tuesday, saying the charges were “the result of a thorough investigation into allegations of public corruption.” Price was hit with five counts of embezzlement, three counts of perjury, and two counts of conflict of interest. A criminal complaint obtained by CBS Los Angeles outlines, among other things, an alleged pay-to-play scheme in which Price’s wife received more than $150,000 from developers right before Price voted to approve their projects between 2019 and 2021. He allegedly failed to disclose those funds to the government. A spokesperson for Price told the Los Angeles Times that he had not seen the charges. “Curren Price is a long-standing public servant who has given his life to the city of Los Angeles,” she added. “He looks forward to defending himself once he’s had an opportunity to address these charges.” After learning of the charges, he has since stepped down as council president Pro Tempore and “all related leadership responsibilities,” he said in a letter obtained by Eyewitness News. “While I navigate through the judicial system to defend my name against unwarranted charges filed against me, the last thing I want to do is to be a distraction to the people's business,” Price wrote to Council President Paul Krekorian. Price is the latest in a string of local Los Angeles lawmakers to be swept up in scandals, including most recently former City Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas, who was convicted on seven felony charges of conspiracy, bribery, and fraud in March.
Read it at CBS Los Angeles
