Philadelphia – from www.philly.com – A national porn conglomerate based in Center City was raided by the the F.B.I. and local authorities early Wednesday morning, but federal officials remain tight-lipped about the case.

The feds, carrying search warrants, descended on the corporate offices of National A-1 Advertising, on 7th Street near Chestnut, around 9 a.m., reported AVN.com, an adult entertainment trade magazine.

FBI agents refused to show the search warrants to managers on site and detained about 120 employees, said James Cybert, director of marketing for Hotmovies.com, a subsidiary of National A-1, according to AVN.com

“Nothing like having 100+ federal agents in your office. :(” read a Twitter post by Cybert under the name @HotMovies, one of the websites owned by the company.

Besides Hotmovies.com, National A-1 owns or operates a phone sex operation, and a host of other online porn websites.

National A-1 also owns and manages National Watch & Diamond, on 8th Street near Chestnut, near Jewelers’ Row.

An employee there confirmed the store was owned by National A-1 CEO Richard Cohen, but declined further comment.

PHILADELPHIA – from www.abclocal.go.com — There are new details in the federal raid of one of the biggest internet and phone sex companies in the country, which is based right here in Philadelphia and has been on the Action News radar since 2006.

State Police are still outside the facility this morning guarding the doors to the building located at 106 South 7th Street inside the Washington Square Building.

Back in 2006, Action News featured National A-1 Advertising in an Action News Special Report. We were intrigued by the fact that a local company could become such a big player in the international sex industry yet remain hidden in plain sight. We took our cameras inside to take a look at the porn enterprise that now seems to be the target of a federal investigation.

A raid that started yesterday morning went into the night. Federal agents from the FBI, IRS and U.S. Attorney’s Office loaded dozens upon dozens of boxes into a U-Haul truck under the watchful eyes of both city and State Police.

National A-1 is a major presence in the international adult entertainment industry – a multi-million dollar moneymaker and the brainchild of the elusive Richard Cohen. Cohen is a Drexel University graduate and a major player in the adult entertainment world.

In 2006, Cohen granted Action News Permission to go behind closed doors and inside his secretive enterprise for an exclusive report on his ever-expanding porn business. Employees told us that the company serves as a clearinghouse for thousands of porn videos. At the time, more than 30,000 porn videos were stored on servers there under tight security.

National A-1 is the parent company of websites such as Hotmovies.com, and the company also operates phone sex lines.

According to the company, in 2006 National A-1 was grossing $20-million annually JUST off of Hotmovies.com and that number was expected to grow.

James Cybert, a company official, wrote on his Twitter page, “Nothing like having 100 plus federal agents in your office.” He added the agents were tightlipped and were refusing to divulge the contents of their search warrants.

Company CEO Richard Cohen goes to great length to avoid the limelight – even to avoid being photographed. Action News did talk to him off camera back in 2006 and he seemed intrigued that we had taken an interest in his company. Now, it seems the federal government wants to know what’s going on at National A-1.