FBI Raids Home of Senate Leader Don Perata’s Son

A federal investigation involving Don Perata, president pro tem of the California Senate, and his political circle intensified Wednesday as the FBI raided the Oakland home of Perata’s son, Nick, a political consultant who has worked on campaigns with his father.

The search was the latest phase of a federal grand jury investigation that has been seeking information about the business dealings of the elder Perata and a number of his associates, some of whom have won public contracts in the Bay Area, where Perata is one of the most powerful Democrats.

Perata, who lives in Oakland, ascended this month to the top position in the Senate.

On Wednesday, eight federal agents, wearing bulletproof vests, searched Nick Perata’s house for at least two hours, starting in late morning, the Oakland Tribune reported on its website. The agents included one from the Internal Revenue Service’s criminal investigations bureau. The agents left with several of Perata’s computers and some papers.

A person with knowledge of the inquiry said the FBI had called Nick Perata and asked him to unlock the door and restrain his dogs. Perata arrived at his house and obliged, and then drove away in his truck, wearing a Halloween-style mask to shield his face from news photographers and taking along his two dogs.

Nick Perata was issued a subpoena for records last month, the source said. The Perata camp expressed outrage at Wednesday’s raid, complaining that authorities had tipped off news photographers in advance.

Don Perata’s attorney, George O’Connell, claimed that the raid was retaliation for calls by Perata and his children for the Justice Department and FBI to investigate the source of last month’s news reports about the grand jury’s inquiry.

“Today’s Ken Starr-like publicity stunt is the latest example of a Republican-appointed prosecutor abusing and misusing the legal system in order to inflict maximum partisan political damage,” O’Connell said in a statement.

“Today’s action comes in response to our demand for a formal investigation of the government leaking confidential grand jury information in violation of the criminal law -- leaks that have not been investigated despite the government’s calls for the investigation of such leaks in other high-profile cases overseen by this office. Given today’s shenanigans, we reaffirm our demand for an investigation.”

FBI spokeswoman LaRae Quy in San Francisco declined to comment and referred questions to the U.S attorney’s office there. Spokesman Luke Macaulay of that office said he could neither confirm nor deny the existence of an investigation, not to mention whether searches were conducted.

In recent months, authorities have issued subpoenas in Perata’s home district in the East Bay and in Sacramento. The inquiry has included an examination of contracts Perata’s associates received from the Bay Area Rapid Transit system. Several Perata associates have received subpoenas in recent months, but Perata aides say authorities have neither contacted the senator nor told him that he was the target of an investigation.

“Sen. Perata, having always acted appropriately, has on any number of occasions indicated that he would be more than willing to voluntarily make whatever information the government needed available,” O’Connell said.

The federal probe of BART contracts sought any information about work or contacts involving Nick Perata and his consulting companies, BPR Productions and Exit Strategies; his sister Rebecca, her husband, Michael Rosati, and their business, Vox Populi; and the senator’s political consulting firm, Perata Engineering.

Nick Perata, who specializes in political mass mailings, lives in a home once owned by his father and has worked on the campaigns of his father and some candidates endorsed by Don Perata. Nick Perata’s political work since the 1990s has garnered more than $1.6 million, according to records.

The elder Perata was unanimously elected Senate president pro tem last week. Sitting in the Senate chamber, his children watched him being sworn in.

Though Perata’s colleagues on both sides of the aisle have been supportive, some Senate officials privately say a deepening inquiry could threaten Perata’s leadership position.

Investigators have seized the business records of Lily Hu, a well-established lobbyist of Oakland City Hall who once was an aide to Perata and remains close.

The probe also has focused on Timothy G. Staples, Perata’s college roommate and a consultant to campaigns that Perata worked on.

Staples paid Perata Engineering more than $100,000 last year, but Perata severed his business ties to Staples this year after questions were raised in newspaper reports.