CURREN EVENTS - Los Angeles City Councilmember Curren Price is headed toward trial on 12 felony public corruption charges after a second Superior Court judge rejected an effort to derail the case, marking another significant setback for the veteran South Los Angeles politician.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler on August 7 rejected Price's motion to set aside the criminal information against him, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office. The ruling leaves Price facing five felony counts of embezzlement of government funds, four counts of conflict of interest and three counts of perjury.
The latest ruling follows a six-day preliminary hearing in January, when Superior Court Judge Shelly Torrealba found sufficient evidence to require Price to stand trial on all 12 charges. Independent reporting at the time confirmed that Torrealba ordered the case forward after prosecutors presented documents and testimony concerning Price's votes, financial disclosures and alleged financial conflicts.
Price subsequently pleaded not guilty. His attorneys sought to have the case dismissed, but Fidler concluded that prosecutors had presented ample evidence to support a probable-cause finding at the preliminary hearing, according to the District Attorney's Office.
District Attorney Nathan Hochman portrayed the second ruling as confirmation that the case should now proceed to a jury.
“Price's latest motion to dismiss rehashes the same meritless arguments he has made for years to avoid accountability,” Hochman said in announcing the decision.
The allegations, however, remain unproven. Price has maintained his innocence, and prosecutors will have to prove the charges beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.
A Case That Has Grown Since 2023
The criminal investigation became public in June 2023, when then-District Attorney George Gascón charged Price with 10 felony counts.
Those original allegations centered on two separate areas of Price's public and private financial affairs.
Prosecutors alleged that Price improperly obtained approximately $33,800 in taxpayer-funded medical coverage between 2013 and 2017 for Del Richardson, now his wife, by identifying her as his spouse while he remained legally married to another woman. Price and Richardson legally married in 2018, according to court records.
The second set of allegations involved Del Richardson & Associates, Richardson's consulting company.
Prosecutors alleged that the company received more than $150,000 from developers between 2019 and 2021 before Price participated in City Council votes involving their projects. They further accused Price of failing to disclose some of that income on government financial disclosure forms.
Price's defense has disputed the prosecution's interpretation of those transactions. His attorneys have argued that prosecutors failed to establish that payments to Richardson's company influenced Price's votes and noted that some of the council actions were routine measures approved unanimously or by wide margins.
Two More Charges Added
The case expanded substantially in August 2025.
Hochman's office filed two additional felony conflict-of-interest charges after investigators alleged that the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles and LA Metro paid Richardson's company more than $800,000 while Price participated in votes involving multimillion-dollar funding for the agencies.
By the January 2026 preliminary hearing, prosecutors alleged that Richardson's company had received more than $950,000 between 2019 and 2021 from developers, the Housing Authority and LA Metro before Price voted on related matters.
Among the allegations, prosecutors say Price introduced and voted for a motion involving $30 million for LA Metro and supported actions involving a $35 million federal grant and a $252 million state grant application for the Housing Authority while Richardson was working for those entities. Prosecutors further allege that Price's staff had identified potential conflicts before the votes occurred.
The amended case also contains allegations involving the nonprofit Home at Last and Urban Healthcare Project, where prosecutors say Price served as CEO. The District Attorney alleges Price participated in decisions involving city lease agreements and more than $2 million in federal COVID-19 funding intended for homelessness programs while Home at Last was a paying tenant of Urban Healthcare Project.
Price Has Consistently Denied Wrongdoing
Price has maintained that he did not intentionally violate the law.
In earlier court proceedings, his attorneys argued that the prosecution had failed to establish a criminal connection between payments to his wife's business and his City Council votes. Price himself has said the charges are unwarranted and that he has conducted himself with integrity and professionalism.
More recently, Price told the Los Angeles Times that he never intended to do anything wrong and characterized the underlying conduct as essentially a paperwork error. Former Councilmember Mike Bonin has also questioned whether the alleged conduct warranted a criminal prosecution rather than action by the City Ethics Commission.
The Ethics Commission separately accused Price in 2024 of 21 violations of city ethics laws, many involving alleged conflicts of interest or failures to disclose economic interests related to his wife's business.
That administrative ethics matter is distinct from the felony criminal prosecution.
A Long Career Now Shadowed by a Criminal Trial
Price has represented Council District 9 since 2013. Before joining the City Council, he served in the California Assembly and State Senate and on the Inglewood City Council. His district includes portions of South Los Angeles and the area surrounding Exposition Park.
The case arrives after a series of corruption scandals that have damaged public confidence in Los Angeles City Hall. Former Councilmembers Mitch Englander and José Huizar both pleaded guilty in separate federal corruption cases, although the allegations against Price involve substantially different conduct.
Price's case has now survived challenges at multiple stages.
Judge Torrealba ruled in January that sufficient evidence existed for the prosecution to proceed on all 12 counts. Price was arraigned on the resulting criminal information and pleaded not guilty. His subsequent attempt to have that information set aside has now been rejected by Judge Fidler.
Price is scheduled to return to the Foltz Criminal Justice Center on October 16 for a pretrial hearing and trial setting, according to the District Attorney's Office.
If convicted as charged, prosecutors say Price could face a maximum sentence of 11 years and four months in custody.
For now, Price remains a sitting member of the Los Angeles City Council—and an accused defendant entitled to the presumption of innocence.
