An embattled Los Angeles city councilmember was slapped with new corruption charges after he and his wife allegedly embezzled $800,000 meant for housing and public transit.
Councilman Curren Price was formally charged Tuesday with two counts of corruption for allegedly voting to approve the city’s housing authority and metro service for fat state and federal grants — in exchange for nearly $1 million in payouts to his wife’s consulting firm between 2019 and 2021.
Price was already in hot water: The pol, endorsed by Mayor Karen Bass, was facing charges of grand theft, perjury, and conflict of interest for votes on projects that allegedly resulted in $150,000 in kickbacks to his wife, Del Richardson.
“Embezzling public funds and awarding contracts for your own financial gain is the antithesis of public service,” Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said in a statement.
Prosecutors claim the LA City Housing Authority paid Richardson’s company — Del Richardson & Associates — more than $600,000 over a nine-month period in 2019 and 2020.
In the same period, Price voted to approve the department for $35 million in federal grant money and $252 million from the state.
From 2020 to 2021, LA Metro paid Richardson’s firm around $200,000; meanwhile, Price “brought and voted in favor of” a motion to award LA Metro $30 million in public funds, the prosecutors allege. --->READ MORE HERE
A Long Island man who blew almost $2 million in COVID relief money on Patek watches, luxury hotels, and crypto coins was sentenced to four years in prison Wednesday.
Niall Alli, 52, of Inwood, pleaded guilty in December 2023 to disaster relief fraud and wire fraud for swindling the Small Business Administration out of more than $1.7 million in Paycheck Protection Program loans during the height of the pandemic, federal prosecutors said.
He will now have to pay back every cent — along with an extra approximately $135,000 in asset forfeiture from corporate bank accounts and Ethereum from a corporate Coinbase wallet.
“Alli saw the COVID-19 programs and the deadly pandemic as an avenue for stealing money from the government and taxpayers,” said U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. “[Alli] now knows the price of such conduct is the loss of his freedom and full restitution to the Small Business Administration.”
From April 2020 to November 2021, Alli used two companies he controlled — Allicorp, Inc. and Oxypaper, Inc. — to file bogus PPP applications stuffed with fake payroll records and phony financial data, officials said. --->READ MORE HEREFollow links below to relevant/related stories and resources:
COVID-19 Is Surging Again — And These Regions Are Facing The Sharpest Spikes
Confused by the new COVID vaccine guidelines? Here's what you need to know.
USA TODAY: Coronavirus Updates
WSJ: Coronavirus Live Updates
YAHOO NEWS: Coronavirus Live Updates
NEW YORK POST: Coronavirus The Latest
If you like what you see, please "Like" and/or Follow us on FACEBOOK here, GETTR here, and TWITTER here.
No comments:
Post a Comment