LOS ANGELES, California — L.A. City Council member Curren Price, who represents the central 9th district, was arrested Tuesday on multiple charges of corruption — the latest local official to be accused of such crimes.
Local ABC affiliate KABC-7 reported:
Los Angeles City Councilman Curren Price was charged Tuesday with multiple counts of embezzlement, perjury and conflict of interest, according to the L.A. County District Attorney’s Office.
Price faces five counts of embezzlement of government funds, three counts of perjury and two counts of conflict of interest, according to a statement from the DA.
In a letter to Council President Paul Krekorian late Tuesday afternoon, Price announced his decision to step down as council president pro tem, and surrendering all of his committee assignments. However, he did not state he was resigning from the council.
The Los Angeles Times provided further detail:
Price is accused of having a financial interest in development projects that he voted on, and receiving tens of thousands of dollars in medical benefits from the city for his now wife while he was still married to another woman, according to a statement issued by the district attorney’s office.
Until Tuesday evening, the veteran politician had a number of plum committee assignments. He chaired the economic and community development committee and served as vice chair of the powerful budget, finance and innovation committee. He was also on the civil rights, equity, immigration, aging and disability committee; the personnel, audits and hiring committee; and the rules, elections and intergovernmental relations committee.
Price also chaired the ad hoc committee on the 2028 Olympics and Paralympic Games, which convened just after the charges were filed Tuesday afternoon with Price notably absent from the room.
Though Price is a prominent local Democrat, corruption in L.A. is a bipartisan endeavor: the sole Republican on the council was convicted on federal corruption charges in 2020 and sentenced to 14 months in prison.
Price’s arrest comes roughly two months after another Democrat on the city council, Mark Ridley-Thomas, was convicted of federal corruption charges. The city has been rocked by one corruption scandal after another, as prosecutors have encountered graft and self-dealing as an endemic part of doing business with the city.
Price’s district includes some of the city’s central landmarks, as well as a corridor south of downtown L.A.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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