An investment management company partly owned by S. Donald Sussman, the fiance of U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, is being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission, according to the newsletter Pension & Investments.

The firm Pacific Alternative Asset Management Co. or Paamco, revealed the information in a letter to its clients that was obtained by the newsletter, which reports on international finance for institutional investment and funds management.

The reason for the investigation wasn’t disclosed, and a spokesman for the SEC’s regional office in New York declined to comment Thursday. But the letter indicates that the SEC’s interest is linked to a ruling earlier this month in U.S. District Court in New York that granted Sussman a 40 percent ownership interest in Paamco’s founders group through his company, Franklin Realty Holdings.

Ownership has been an issue in Paamco because the hedge fund advisory firm markets itself as majority owned by women. But revelations that the firm received start-up money from Sussman and that he has a 40 percent equity stake led the judge in the court case to question whether the arrangement was misleading.

Paamco has maintained the money was a loan and was properly treated as debt for legal, marketing and regulatory purposes, according to the newsletter.