A real estate investor facing scrutiny from lenders and investors is now the subject of a government inquiry into an offer to buy shares in WeWork Inc., Bloomberg News reported. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has sent inquiries to Jonathan Larmore, the founder of Arciterra Cos., about a Nov. 3 press release in which an entity called Cole Capital Funds said it was seeking to buy shares in the coworking company at a significant premium, according to a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be named citing private information. The inquiry includes Larmore’s trading history in WeWork stock and options, the person said. A company filing links Larmore to Cole Capital Funds, which was registered in October with the Arizona Corporation Commission. The real estate investor was already facing an SEC inquiry about Arciterra, which had owned as many as 80 properties including strip malls. In an interview, Larmore said that he planned to make all of the required filings related to his purchase of WeWork shares and that he couldn’t comment further on the matter until he had done so. He declined to comment on the SEC inquiry, and said that he was working through lawsuits filed by private parties and was confident in their outcome. “Many of the lawsuits have been resolved and we will continue to resolve the rest,” he said.
