Los Angeles City Council member Curren Price was charged Tuesday with 10 counts of embezzlement, perjury and conflict of interest.

city ​​officials to confront public corruption

allegations from state or federal prosecutors. Price, a 10-year veteran of the city council, was charged with five counts of grand larceny by embezzlement, three counts of perjury and two counts of conflict of interest, according to a spokesperson for the LA County Attorney’s Office. The office did not immediately provide details of the allegations or a copy of a criminal complaint. Price was not immediately available for comment. He left the council chamber shortly after the end of Tuesday’s meeting at around 2 p.m

The charges are the latest in a series of

criminal charges and scandals

who turned the city hall upside down. Last year, a conversation leaked out between

Than-

City council president Nury Martinez, council members Kevin de Len and Gil Cedillo and LA County Federation of Labor president Ron Herrera with racial slurs ended Martinez’s council career

drove Herrera from his post

and turned De Len into a political pariah.

Earlier this year, Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas was found guilty of conspiracy, bribery and fraud for obtaining benefits for his son from USC while voting on matters that benefited the school.

How LA City Hall Got So Corrupt: A Recent History of Bribes, Kickbacks, Scandals, Leaks

Council members Mitch Englander and Jose Huizar also pleaded guilty to charges of federal corruption in recent years following an FBI investigation.

Price was one of several City Hall figures named in the FBI investigation that trapped Huizar and Englander after he was named in a federal search warrant filed in November 2018. Federal prosecutors never pressed charges against him.

Price was the subject of ethics c

ever

in 2019 after it was revealed that he had cast

votes on items that could affect clients of a consulting firm owned by his wife, Del Richardson. The Times reported that Price voted on decisions involving at least 10 companies in the same years they were listed as sources of revenue of at least $10,000 to Del Richardson & Associates.

Del Richardson & Associates offers a wide variety of services, including relocation assistance, marketing, job recruiting and more, according to its website. Clients include government agencies such as the LA County Metropolitan Transportation Authority and Jordan Downs, a housing project overseen by the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles, the website said.

In 2019, a spokesperson for Price said that neither the councilor nor his wife had benefited financially from the votes initially identified by The Times. That’s what the spokesman said

the

Price never cast a vote with his or his wife’s financial interests in mind.

California law prohibits any government official from making or participating in any government decision that he knows or has reason to know has a financial interest.

JQ – LET’S ADD TO IT WHEN WE KNOW THE WOMAN’S CHARGES ARE INVOLVED While Richardson has been associated with her company for years, it’s unclear what her status with the agency is. The company has been acquired by a non-profit in recent years, according to the company’s website and pricing

financial disclosure forms

showing that Del Richardson & Associates was sold to the Greenwood Seneca Foundation sometime between February 2021 and February 2022. Richardson was still receiving a salary from Del Richardson & Associates in 2022 for consulting work,

according to Price’s financial disclosure forms

.

The scandal-ridden city council had regained tenuous stability in recent months, but the price hikes are likely to disrupt that relative calm.

The immediate question is whether Price, whose term does not expire until 2026, will remain on the council as he fights the charges.

The council member was first elected to the council in 2013 to represent South Los Angeles neighborhoods and the LA Live area downtown.

Price’s colleagues will likely be pressured to suspend him, as the council has voted twice in the past three years to suspend other members facing criminal charges.

If suspended, Price would be unable to attend council and committee meetings, execute contracts, use discretionary resources, or participate in constituent services. His voters in South LA would also have no voting representative.

Price would permanently lose his seat if convicted of a felony under city rules.

Times staff writer Emily Alpert Reyes contributed to this report.