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U.S. securities regulators have opened an investigation into Guggenheim Partners LLC’s asset-management arm that includes questions about an $85 million home in Malibu, Calif., co-owned by Guggenheim Chief Executive Mark Walter, according to people familiar with the matter.
The Securities and Exchange Commission, three of these people said, has shown interest in that real-estate transaction and a series of other deals involving ABS Capital Co. LLC, a Miami firm owned by two former Guggenheim managers. ABS Capital and Walter co-invested in the Malibu property, spokesmen for ABS and Walter said last fall. A Guggenheim spokesman said in October that the real-estate deals weren’t funded by Guggenheim Partners.
The SEC’s enforcement staff has asked Guggenheim to retain documents related to certain transactions, including some with ABS Capital, two of these people said. And in the past month, they have subpoenaed documents and other information from ABS Capital, according to another person familiar with the matter.
An SEC spokesman declined to comment; A spokesman for ABS said on Sunday it owns the two Palisades homes as well as the Malibu property and that it hasn’t borrowed any money from Guggenheim. Guggenheim, which hasn’t been accused of any wrongdoing, is cooperating with the SEC probe, one person said.
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