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LA Councilmember Curren Price Arraignment Postponed
L.A. Councilmember Curren D. Price Jr.
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Rebecca Sapp
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Getty Images
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The arraignment for L.A. City Councilmember Curren Price Friday was postponed until Dec. 15, the third delay since he was first charged with corruption in June.
Price stands accused of embezzlement, perjury and conflict of interest and is the latest member of the council to face criminal charges. Price, who represents a wide swath of South L.A., has called the charged "unwarranted."
Prosecutors allege Price voted to approve development projects on which his wife provided consulting work, violating conflict of interest laws. Price also allegedly failed to disclose the money his wife made on those projects.
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The embezzlement charges relate to Price allegedly collecting medical benefits for his wife from 2013 to 2017, while he was still legally married to someone else. Prosecutors allege Price embezzled more than $30,000 in medical premiums.
City Council President Paul Krekorian has said he would delay a vote on whether to suspend Price from the council until after he is arraigned.
The council suspended former Councilmember Mark Ridley-Thomas within days of him being charged with corruption in 2021, drawing criticism that it acted too fast to punish somebody who had not yet been convicted of a crime. Ridley-Thomas was later convicted by a federal jury and sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison.
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