First Pension Petitions Court for Liquidation : Bankruptcy: The Irvine company’s filing puts investors in a panic, despite assurances that their funds are safe.

A pension fund administrator filed a petition in U.S. Bankruptcy Court Friday to liquidate itself, sending chills through investors who say they have put $40 million to $70 million in the hands of its parent company.

First Pension Corp., which sends checks from investment proceeds to individual investors, will remain open with a skeleton crew of a dozen workers while its owner tries to sell the assets, said William M. Burd, a Santa Ana bankruptcy lawyer for First Pension.

“Nobody’s money or investments are at risk,” Burd said. “The intent is to get the bankruptcy trustee to provide administration and record-keeping for a brief time while we try to consummate a sale.”

Panicked investors nevertheless flooded city police and federal authorities with dozens of calls Friday. In calls to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the U.S. attorney’s office, Irvine police and the FBI, they complained about missed payments and worried that their money would be squandered.

An investor who showed up at First Pension’s headquarters told a guard he had millions of dollars tied up with the firm.

“This is a company that had been in business a long time,” said Ralph Breen, a Los Angeles resident who has been investing with its parent company, First Diversified Financial Services, since 1982. “It’s not like they’re a fly-by-night operation.”

First Pension sent letters Thursday to investors to try to assure them that none of its creditors could touch their money.

Even so, investors worried that the bankruptcy portends bigger problems at First Diversified in Irvine. The parent company mainly creates pools of money from investors to fund second trust deeds, which are risky mortgages because first trust deeds have priority should foreclosures occur.

Investors said First Diversified has often had problems repaying funds when the investments are supposed to mature. But the company has continued to pay interest and in some cases has eventually paid everything back, they said.

Richard Bradshaw, 64, a retired graphic designer and commercial artist, said the company is nearly two weeks late on a $6,000 payment to him. “I don’t hold a great deal of hope that it’s on its way,” the Manhattan Beach resident said. “I may have to go back and look for a job.”

He and others said Friday they want to know where the money is and why it is not being repaid. First Diversified newsletters, Bradshaw said, have trumpeted the fact that it has had as much as $70 million in mortgage securities, though that amount was down to $40 million last fall. The company also has offered such investments as leases of medical equipment.

William E. Cooper, chairman of First Pension and related companies, could not be reached for comment Friday. He also refused to talk with Irvine police, who went to First Pension’s two-story white stucco office where some of the 40 employees were removing their personal belongings.

First Pension’s bankruptcy petition, filed late Friday, lists debts of nearly $6.4 million and assets of about $500,000, Burd said. The value of the client list and goodwill, he said, is estimated at $1.5 million.

The biggest debt was $5 million in loans from the parent company. First Diversified will voluntarily subordinate its claim if a buyer can be found, the lawyer said.

Times staff writer Anne Michaud contributed to this report.