Developer Thomas Safran figures in charges against LA councilman

Payments from three development firms, including Thomas Safran & Associates, led to the explosive criminal charges filed this week against L.A. City Councilman Curren Price.  

On Tuesday, in what amounted to the opening bell of the latest corruption scandal to rock Los Angeles City Hall, the L.A. County District Attorney’s office announced it had charged Price, a veteran politician who represents South L.A., with 10 counts of grand theft by embezzlement, three counts of perjury and two counts of conflict of interest. Most of the charges relate to real estate corruption: Price is accused of failing to disclose that his wife’s consulting firm was paid more than $160,000 by developers before he was scheduled to vote on matters related to their projects. 

The case’s 11-page criminal complaint reveals where the money came from. Thomas Safran & Associates, the Brentwood-based multifamily development and management firm chaired by Thomas Safran, is named along with two less known developers, GTM Holdings and WORKS, that have previously partnered or sought partnerships with the City of L.A. to build homeless housing and affordable housing projects, including in South L.A. 

The firms issued a series of payments to Del Richardson & Associates, the real estate consulting firm run by Price’s wife, between 2019 and 2021, according to the complaint. 

In early 2019, an entity affiliated with Safran & Associates called Beach Avenue Housing LP cut checks to the consulting firm for $14,400, $18,390 and $2,900, and in 2021 another Safran-affiliated entity, Town Meadows LP, cut a check for $29,052. 

Price, meanwhile, voted in late 2019 to authorize nearly $4.7 million in city funding to a Safran & Associates housing project called Missouri and Bundy, and in 2021 the councilman voted to donate city property to the same project. 

In 2020, one project entity owned by GTM Holdings cut two checks to Price’s wife’s consulting firm for $20,545 each and another for $5,490, just before Price voted to sell city property to GTM for the project, called Depot at Hyde Park.  

The next year another entity affiliated with GTM gave a check for $51,700, and months later Price voted to knock down the sale price by nearly $600,000. 

On Tuesday evening, hours after the news of the corruption charges broke, Price agreed to step down from his committee roles, and City Council President Paul Krekorian indicated he would move to suspend him. 

An employee of Safran & Associates said the company has no comment. 

A number listed for Mark Walther, the registered agent of GTM Holdings, appeared disconnected, and contact information for WORKS was not immediately available. 

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