Records Seized at Firms With Primedex Ties : Health care: Authorities search investment companies in broadening fraud probe.

Authorities broadened their investigations Wednesday into Primedex Health Systems, a controversial health care company operating mainly in California, by seizing records on the East and West coasts at firms with ties to the enterprise.

Until last year, Primedex was one of the biggest workers’ compensation medical operations in Southern California. But the company pulled out of that business last year, under pressure of the fraud investigations by the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office and the FBI.

It continues to run a chain of diagnostic imaging centers in California under the name RadNet Management. The chain’s division headquarters in Los Angeles and medical offices around the state were included in Wednesday’s searches.

Search warrants were also executed at Primedex’s Newark, N.J., headquarters, at the offices of its accounting firm and at an array of investment firms in New York.

Among the investment firms searched was First Jersey Securities, which is headed by financier Robert E. Brennan, who also owns the controlling interest in Primedex. He is defending himself in court against civil fraud charges filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission, which accuses Brennan and First Jersey of bilking droves of customers.

In a news release Wednesday, Primedex said the search warrants had “nothing to do with our current operations.” The company also said it “continues to believe that its operations are in compliance with applicable law and is unaware of any criminal activities of the company, its subsidiaries or any of its employees.”