As Richard Meruelo expanded his downtown real estate portfolio, he had a noteworthy associate: Ezri Namvar, the embattled investor who is under federal investigation and has been accused of running a Ponzi scheme.

Namvar, who heads Namco Capital Group Inc., claimed to have provided Meruelo with up to $80 million for the purchase of as many as 10 properties.

Some of the properties purchased wound up in the portfolio of Meruelo Maddux Properties, though Meruelo said the loans were paid off prior to his company’s initial public offering.

“He understood the market. He understood downtown. He believed in me,” said Meruelo, who estimated he did “maybe four deals,” with Namvar. “I speak to him once in a while. I try to offer whatever support I can.”

Namvar, an Iranian immigrant who had a local real estate empire valued at $2.43 billion last summer, has been accused by creditors of running a Ponzi scheme when his business soured last year. His investors and creditors are largely from the Persian community in and around Beverly Hills. Both Namvar and his business have since filed for bankruptcy. Namvar’s attorney declined comment.

The business relationship between the two came to light in depositions and testimony Namvar gave from 2005 to 2007 in two lawsuits over contested real estate purchases by Meruelo. The suit over a property at 9901 S. Alameda St. is particularly noteworthy.

When asked about his willingness to lend to Meruelo without checking his credit, Namvar said it wasn’t necessary “because I know all his life,” adding that he’d never turned down Meruelo for a loan. But he also said Meruelo “would think twice before he defaults on me” given how he often held as collateral the valuable property that would later serve as headquarters for Meruelo’s public company.

Indeed, Meruelo told the Business Journal that Namvar was tough, saying, “There was always that fine line if you didn’t pay Ezri, there would be consequences.”

Warren Becker, who had owned 9901 S. Alameda St. but lost the legal battle, put the relationship in starker terms.

“One guy was a money lender and the other guy wanted to build an empire — both ruthless,” Becker said. “They are aligned only when it suited them, I don’t think there was any love lost between them.”