The Brief

A court hearing for Los Angeles City Councilmember Curren Price got underway Tuesday, with a focus on allegations Price was married to another woman when he collected city health insurance benefits for his wife — which prosecutors say amounted to embezzlement of city funds.

In addition to facing five counts of grand theft by embezzlement of public funds, Price faces four counts of conflict of interest related to votes he took on projects connected to his wife’s business and three counts of perjury by declaration related to allegations he failed to disclose financial interests related to his wife’s business.

Price has pleaded not guilty in Los Angeles County Superior Court. At the end of the preliminary hearing, which is expected to run several days, a judge will be asked to determine whether there’s enough evidence for the case to go to trial.

If convicted on all charges, he faces up to 11 years behind bars.

On Tuesday, prosecutors called an analyst with the city’s Personnel Department to testify and presented him with documents that showed Price placed his current wife Del Richardson on his city-issued healthcare plan from 2013 to 2017, before they were legally married.

Deputy District Attorney Casey Higgins then showed the analyst a 1981 marriage certificate showing Price’s marriage to Suzette Price. The analyst said his office never saw the certificate.

“We most likely would have asked questions,” said Paul Makowski, chief benefits analyst with the city’s Personnel Department.

Prosecutors say Price bilked the city out of tens of thousands of dollars in health benefits for Richardson.

Price has said he thought he was divorced from his wife when he signed Richardson up for the benefit. He and Suzette Price had been separated since 2002. His attorney Michael Schafler noted Price never sought benefits for both women at the same time.

Prosecutors say the conflict of interest and perjury charges relate to Price failing to recuse himself from votes on projects that benefited his wife’s business, which provides relocation services and community engagement on big projects.

For example, the Housing Authority of the city of Los Angeles paid Richardson & Associates more than $600,000 over two years from 2019 to 2020. During that same time, Price voted to support a $35 million federal grant and a state grant application for $252 million for the agency, according to prosecutors.

In addition, LA Metro paid Richardson & Associates about $219,000 over two years from 2020 to 2021. Prosecutors say during that time, Price introduced and voted for a motion to award $30 million to Metro.

Price’s staff allegedly alerted Price about both transactions as potential conflicts of interest, according to prosecutors.

The preliminary hearing is expected to last six days.

Los Angeles officials gathered Tuesday for a media event to launch the county’s newest department. The new entity faces a daunting mandate: solve the region’s deeply entrenched homelessness crisis.

The new L.A. County Homeless Services and Housing department takes the mantle from the embattled regional L.A. Homeless Services Authority, known as LAHSA, which until now has overseen the funding and administration of homeless services across a county where more than 72,000 people experience homelessness on any given night.

County Supervisor Kathryn Barger said transferring responsibilities from LAHSA — a joint powers authority created in 1993 by the city and county of L.A. — to one centralized agency will reduce finger-pointing.

“For a long time, it is LAHSA blames the county, the county blames the city, the city blames LAHSA — we all blame each other,” Barger said. “Accountability now ends with the [Board of Supervisors]. ... The buck is going to stop with us.”

Department launches as volunteers count LA’s unhoused 

The launch coincided with the first day of the region’s homeless count, which is still being overseen by LAHSA. Last year, the county decided to pull hundreds of millions of dollars from LAHSA and entrust that annual funding to the new county department.

The decision came shortly after a series of audits uncovered spending and oversight problems at the agency. Supervisor Lindsey Horvath said she hoped reducing LAHSA’s responsibilities would help the agency better execute its core duties, such as the annual homeless count.

“Now that the focus and scope of what they're doing has been narrowed, hopefully that's where they've been focusing their time, effort and energy,” Horvath said.

Sarah Mahin (center) speaks about the launch of the new county homelessness department she will direct. Standing behind her are L.A. County Supervisors Kathryn Barger and Lindsey Horvath.

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David Wagner/LAist

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Revenue for the new department comes from Measure A, the half-cent sales tax voters opted to double from the previous quarter-cent tax in November 2024.

Why sales taxes are up, but overall revenue is down

Despite the increased sales tax revenue, officials say overall funding is down because of federal and state funding losses, plus allocations of sales tax revenue to a separate entity, the L.A. County Affordable Housing Solutions Agency.

The county’s new homelessness department has a $635 million draft spending plan. It comes with proposed cuts of more than 25% to homeless services.

“Cuts are painful for everyone, but we are making thoughtful and responsible decisions,” said Sarah Mahin, the new county department’s director. “We are prioritizing the most vulnerable people and the programs that we know work. And we're actively working with our partners to secure other funding and solutions to fill gaps.”

One program that will see cuts is Pathway Home, which clears encampments and offers residents spots in interim housing. Mahin said spending on the motels that serve as that interim housing will go down, dropping the number of annual encampment clearances involving motels from 30 to 10.

The hearing: At the corner of Wilkins and Kelton avenues, Hale told reporters that his hearing Tuesday lasted just about 10 minutes. According to Hale, the statute of limitations for his charges remains open until Dec. 7, a year after the street safety activist was arrested. “So they can change their mind, and I do risk arrest if I do this again,” Hale said. The hearing had been rescheduled from its original date of Jan. 5.

The crosswalks: Police arrested Hale as he and a group of volunteers, known as People's Vision Zero, were painting the third of four crosswalk legs at the Westwood intersection. As of Tuesday, the city has not repainted, eliminated or finished the crosswalks at the intersection.

One of the four crosswalks at the Westwood intersection where Hale was arrested remains unfinished. Two legs of the crosswalk were completed by Hale and his group before the L.A. police arrested the street safety activist.

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Jonathan Hale

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What’s next: Hale said People’s Vision Zero would continue painting crosswalks if the city does not take concrete steps toward its goal of ending traffic deaths. One way Hale said the city could make progress is by working with his group to create a community-led initiative to paint code-compliant crosswalks.

Dig deeper … into the background on Hale’s arrest.