However, police found social media posts of Richmond wearing a patch or gang logo from April 2024 and February 2025.
They also provided the authority with a photograph of Richmond and patched members of the King Cobras, protesting outside the High Court in Auckland on November 21, 2024.
The protest was against the ban on wearing gang patches in public, which came into effect that day.
King Cobra gang members in a social media post wearing gang insignia outside court on November 21, 2024. Photo / NZ Police
Security guard since 2020
Richmond has held a “certificate of approval” to work as a crowd controller, property guard and personal guard since December 2020.
He came on to the police’s radar after they found him working as a crowd controller at a Ponsonby Rd bar in Auckland while not wearing his security badge, as required.
Further checks revealed he had been logged by police as a member of the King Cobras in March 2025.
Police complained to the Private Security Personnel Licensing Authority that this made him unsuitable to be a security worker.
They told the authority the King Cobras were a “criminal gang” and members had been charged with a range of criminal activity.
This included drug manufacture, importation and supply, as well as dishonesty, fraud and violent offending, including aggravated robbery and murder.
“They are also known to be influential in the entertainment industry, particularly in the K[arangahape] Rd-Ponsonby Rd area, due to their control over doormen,” authority member Trish McConnell said.
Security workers ‘a conduit’ for drugs
“Security workers with links to the King Cobras are used as a conduit for getting drugs into bars, clubs and other hospitality venues,” she said.
McConnell said being a patched member of a gang such as the King Cobras was incompatible with the background and character requirements for security workers.
She cancelled Richmond’s certificate of approval to work as one.
“If Mr Richmond had turned away from gang life, despite being a gang member, I may have considered some outcome short of cancellation was appropriate,” McConnell said.
“However, the … uncontested evidence provided by police proves that Mr Richmond was wearing his patch and actively associating himself with the King Cobras in late 2024 and early 2025.”
Ric Stevens spent many years working for the former New Zealand Press Association news agency, including as a political reporter at Parliament, before holding senior positions at various daily newspapers. He joined NZME’s Open Justice team in 2022 and is based in Hawke’s Bay. His writing in the crime and justice sphere is informed by four years of front-line experience as a probation officer.