Private mortgage funded through IRA to buy real estate

My client is trying to buy a 2nd home. They were approached by an accountant who is telling them to open a self-directed IRA, use the funds to purchase units in his Venture Capital firm and he will then loan the money out to them to buy the 2nd home outside the IRA in an LLC. He suggests that they can choose the terms of the loan and are essentially using their own money. I am skeptical given that you can’t buy real estate in an IRA in which you use it as a second home. I believe a second layer (in the form of VC private debt is being added to disguise the fact that the IRA is buying a second home. Am I missing something? Is this legit?