SEC Charges Phoenix Real Estate Investor With Stock Manipulation Over Fake WeWork Offer

By Ben Glickman

The Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday charged Jonathan Larmore, a Phoenix-based real-estate investor, with stock manipulation tied to a false tender offer for now-bankrupt WeWork.

The SEC charges also allege that ArciTerra Companies, a real-estate investment company, and Larmore, who is the company's chief executive, misappropriated more than $35 million in managed funds over a number of years.

The SEC alleges that Larmore had, since at least January 2017, used a "substantial portion" of misappropriated funds from ArciTerra for family members' expenses and to fund a lifestyle which included private jets, yachts and expensive residences.

Earlier this month, according to the SEC, Larmore and Cole Capital Funds, an entity created and controlled by Larmore, issued a press release saying the firm would purchase 51% of all minority ownership shares in WeWork for $9 a share.

The offer, priced at more than nine times WeWork's stock price at the time, prompted shares to more than double after-hours. Larmore allegedly purchased 72,000 call options in WeWork in the days before and planned to execute on the trades once the stock rose.

The SEC said most of the options expired before Larmore could exercise them due to a delay in issuing the press release.

Larmore and ArciTerra could not immediately be reached for comment.

Write to Ben Glickman at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 29, 2023 18:23 ET (23:23 GMT)

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