LOS ANGELES—For the second time this year, sitting Los Angeles City Councilmember Curren Price was ordered by a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge to stand trial on 12 felony public corruption charges including embezzlement of public funds, perjury and financial conflicts of interest.
On January 28, 2026, after a six-day preliminary hearing, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Shelly Torrealba held Price to answer and ordered him to stand trial on all 12 felony charges.
On April 10, Price was arraigned on the information and pleaded not guilty. On May 21, Price filed a motion to dismiss the case and set aside the Information. On August 7, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler rejected Price’s motion to set aside the information and held that the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office presented
ample evidence at Price’s preliminary hearing for a probable cause finding. Judge Fidler’s decision affirms Judge Torrealba’s January 28 ruling holding Price to answer and ordering Price to stand trial.
He will face trial on five felony counts of embezzlement of government funds, four felony counts of conflict of interest, and three felony counts of perjury. If convicted as charged, he faces up to 11 years and four months in prison.
Price has been the city’s 9th District councilmember since 2013. Like all other councilmembers, he is prohibited from having a financial interest associated with any project that comes before the Los Angeles City Council.
Curren De Mille Price Jr., 75, was charged in 2023 with five felony counts of embezzlement of government funds, two felony counts of conflict of interest, and three felony counts of perjury. In August 2025, an amended complaint was filed alleging two additional felony counts of conflict of interest after the Office uncovered evidence that the Housing Authority of the city of Los Angeles and LA Metro allegedly paid Price’s wife more than $800,000 at the same time Price voted to award the agencies multimillion-dollar contracts.
Price allegedly voted on projects where his current wife, Delbra Pettice Richardson, was subcontracted by a developer or directly contracted by the city. Richardson’s company allegedly received payments totaling more than $950,000 between 2019 and 2021 from developers, the Housing Authority and LA Metro before Price voted to approve projects. While Richardson was employed by these entities, Price brought and voted in favor of a motion to award $30 million to LA Metro and voted to support a $35 million federal grant and a $252 million state grant application for the Housing Authority. Price’s staff had flagged the conflicts prior to the votes.
The perjury charges stem from Price failing to disclose those conflicts on the California Fair Political Practices Commission Form 700. He is also accused of embezzling approximately $33,800 in city funds from 2013 to 2017 to pay for medical benefits for Richardson, whom he falsely claimed was his wife, while still legally married to Lynn Suzette Price.
Case BA515782 is being prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney Casey Higgins of the Public Integrity Division and remains under investigation by the District Attorney’s Bureau of Investigation.
Price has been ordered to return to court on October 16 in Department 106 of the Foltz Criminal Justice Center for a pretrial hearing/trial setting.
The LADA’s Office states the charges filed in this case are allegations. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.
