LOS ANGELES – Los Angeles Councilman Curren Price Jr. passed out during a live press conference at the Los Angeles Convention Center early Wednesday morning.
The pressure from being indicted on multiple counts of public corruption appears to be taking a toll on the 74-year-old politician.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office has filed two new public corruption charges against Los Angeles City Councilmember Curren Price after uncovering evidence that the city’s housing authority and LA Metro paid Price’s wife more than $800,000 total at the same time Price voted to award the agencies multimillion-dollar contracts.
“Embezzling public funds and awarding contracts for your own financial gain is the antithesis of public service,” Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman said. “Our communities expect and deserve better from their public officials. I thank our investigative team and prosecutors in the Public Integrity Division for diligently pursuing every lead and holding elected officials accountable. Self-dealing and pay-to-play politics will not be tolerated in Los Angeles County.”
The public corruption probe stretches to the city of Inglewood as Price’s wife, was attempting to strong arm the members of the Inglewood City Council into gifting her public funds by way of healthcare reimbursements she wasn’t entitled to.
The 66-page filing lays out in meticulous detail the steps the district attorney’s office took to bring the new charges, which include Price being listed as the CEO of a nonprofit based out of an office space operated by Animo Inglewood Charter High School.
Price was a former Inglewood city councilman who then went on to the California State Legislature and then landed in South Los Angeles in 2013 to succeed Jan Perry as the councilperson for Council District 9.
Filings uploaded to the state’s website indicate Price is the CEO of the Urban Healthcare Project (UHP), which operated in the 3400 block of W. Manchester Blvd.
The nonprofit began operating in 1992, and at some point, Price became its leader.
UHP then leased office space to a Culver City based nonprofit that provides housing and supportive services to individuals experiencing homelessness. That agency paid Urban Healthcare Project $24,000 in annual lease payments.
In 2019, Price voted to award the nonprofit a lease of city-owned property in downtown Los Angeles. In 2020, Price voted to reserve $100 million in COVID-19 relief funds for homeless efforts.
In 2021, Price voted in favor of various motions, including one made by then Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas, that awarded federal funding to the nonprofit.
“A total of $2,136,174 in taxpayer funds were awarded to the nonprofit through Price’s votes while the Urban Healthcare Project was receiving lease payments from the nonprofit,” wrote the DA’s office in the filing.
Price has pleaded not guilty to all charges and denies any wrongdoing.