Hi, @Jonathan Khan. From our Ask a Tax Professional event, @Daniel Krolikowski answered a similar question. He said:
"Generally, under IRC Sec. 219(e)(1), contributions to IRA's, except for rollover contributions, must be in cash. In addition, IRA's can generally not purchase shares from a disqualified person under IRC Section 4975(c)(1)(A). You can still check with the self-directed IRA custodian to see if the IRA can purchase private shares from a non disqualified person."
Check replies number 40 and 41 in that thread for more details.