Federal agents Wednesday searched the offices of real estate company World Class Holdings, which has purchased numerous high-profile properties in Austin in recent years.

FBI and U.S. Treasury Department investigators were spotted going through World Class' downtown Austin offices at Ninth and Lavaca streets. Multiple agents were carrying folders, bags and other items from and between buildings at the Hirshfeld-Moore property.

Earlier in the day, FBI operations also took place near Fourth Street and Congress Avenue, FBI spokeswoman Michelle Lee said. World Class had office space at Frost Bank Tower, which is at Fourth and Congress, but Lee would neither confirm nor deny to the American-Statesman that the company was a target.

Lee would not confirm details of the operations but said there was no threat to the public. Special agents with the Treasury Department referred a reporter to the U.S. attorney's office, but a spokesman with that office also declined to comment.

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World Class Holdings was founded by Austin businessman Nate Paul more than a decade ago. Paul, 32, and his company — which has offices in Austin, Dallas, New York and Los Angeles — are well known in local real estate circles and beyond.

Paul has acquired several high-profile properties in the past few years. In June 2017, 3M Co. said it reached a deal with World Class to buy 3M's 156-acre campus in far Northwest Austin for an undisclosed price.

World Class also purchased downtown sites that housed the Spaghetti Warehouse, the IHOP near Rainey Street, Katz's Deli and La Zona Rosa. World Class also owns a choice tract near Lady Bird Lake across from the Austin Convention Center, as well as the 118-acre former Cypress Semiconductor campus in Round Rock.

The company owns more than 3 million square feet of retail space, Paul told the Statesman earlier this year, when World Class bought Arboretum Crossing, a shopping center on 20 acres in Northwest Austin.

In Austin, World Class' shopping center holdings include Galleria Oaks, Teakwood Plaza, Ben White Center, Crestview Crossing and Lonestar Center. In addition, Paul has said the company owns shopping centers in Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Chicago, Kansas City, Oklahoma City, Des Moines, St. Louis, New Orleans and Denver.

The company’s portfolio of development sites has entitlements for more than 75 million square feet of potential development in its existing holdings in high-growth markets nationwide.

Paul also made headlines when he was sued in recent years, once by an investor and once by former employees of a rooftop club he owns in downtown Austin, who said they were cheated out of their tips.

In 2016, Texas investor Michael Macs accused Paul in a lawsuit of fraud, breach of contract and misrepresentation in connection with Macs' investments of nearly $15 million in real estate ventures in Texas, Indiana and California.

Both lawsuits were settled out of court.

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According to a July 2017 article in Forbes magazine, Paul started building World Class Holdings in 2007, growing it to $1.2 billion in assets and 10 million square feet of commercial real estate ranging from office space to retail to self-storage. The firm's portfolio includes 120 properties spanning 17 states from California to New York, Forbes said.

At one time, Paul bid $800 million for Manhattan's Plaza and Dream hotels, according to the article. It said Paul had entitlements to build 6 million square feet in downtown Austin.