Special Weapons Team, D.A. Officers Raid Home of Record Firm President

Backed by a Sheriff’s Department special weapons team and local police, investigators for the Los Angeles District Attorney’s major frauds unit Thursday searched the Whittier home of a record company president and seized financial documents of his troubled company.

The pre-dawn raid at the home of Kimball D. Richards, 30-year-old president and owner of Consolidated Allied Cos., was part of a coordinated operation that searched seven other locations in Los Angeles and Orange counties Thursday.

In all, 30 investigators and 10 special weapons team members participated in the searches. Using search warrants signed by Los Angeles Municipal Court Judge Glenette Black, officers looked for financial records of Consolidated Allied and several other companies that have had close business dealings with the Santa Fe Springs-based company. Consolidated Allied is at the center of an alleged bank fraud involving leases on recording equipment.

No arrests were made Thursday, but Peter Berman, head of the major frauds unit, said the investigation is continuing.

Other locations searched included the Van Nuys and Huntington Beach offices of Riviera Capital, a financing company that leased recording equipment to Consolidated, and the home of Riviera’s president, Robert Bernfeld. In addition, investigators searched the La Canada offices of T-C Audio Services, which sold equipment to Consolidated Allied through Riviera, and the homes of several Consolidated Allied employees.

In an unusual show of force, the Sheriff’s team detonated at least one so-called “flash” grenade to “effectuate entry” to Richards’ home, according to Berman. Investigators felt the special weapons team and grenades were necessary at the Whittier home “because of the nature of the premises and the way it was set up,” Berman said.

Unlike the other locations searched, “we considered Richards’ place a high-risk situation, since we had information that he possessed an Uzi machine gun,” he said. Eleven weapons were found in Richards’ home, “including four semiautomatic Uzi machine pistols,” the investigator said.

Richards, who was home at the time of the raid, declined to comment Thursday. However, in a previous interview, he said he had nothing to do with Consolidated Allied’s finances, which he claimed were overseen by Bernfeld.

In an interview last week, Bernfeld denied that he had any involvement with Consolidated Allied other than providing financing for recording equipment. Bernfeld’s attorney, Steven Spector, said his client was out of town and not available for comment Thursday. “But I assure you that Riviera and Mr. Bernfeld are continuing to cooperate with the District Attorney’s office in this investigation,” he said.

Richards and his company have been under siege from various creditors and investigators since January, when Los Angeles-based Union Bank filed a civil lawsuit here alleging that the company had obtained more than $7 million in financing on the basis of bogus financial statements. One of the locations searched Thursday was the home of William E. Rose, the outside accountant who allegedly put together Consolidated Allied’s financial statements. Rose could not be reached for comment.

Union Bank’s suit started a flurry of legal activity as Consolidated Allied’s other creditors joined the effort to seize assets--primarily recording equipment secured by so-called “leveraged” leases. Acting on creditors’ requests, Superior Court Judge Ricardo A. Torres in Los Angeles last month appointed a receiver to take control of Consolidated Allied’s assets.