A massive federal probe into billionaire sports and entertainment mogul Mark Walter reportedly began after one of his own employees acted as a whistleblower.
Walter – the owner of the Los Angeles Lakers and Dodgers – is being investigated by US prosecutors after an informant pointed to billions of dollars of profits were allegedly funneled to his insurance companies.
Walter’s conglomerate, TWG Global, is being probed over $16 billion in loans ended up in the accounts of Walter-owned insurance companies.
The SEC in the US Attorney’s Office in Manhattan are trying to determine if TWG committed fraud after the loan money passed through a third entity, The Wall Street Journal reported.
TWG Global claimed: ‘Nothing about these transactions was any different.’
‘Mark Walter and TWG have always acted in good faith, and those who have done business with Mark know him as honest and straightforward,’ a spokesperson for the conglomerate told WSJ in a statement.
The company said it is cooperating with authorities, adding, ‘we are confident these matters will be resolved favorably.’
Spokespersons for TWG Global could not be reached for comment by The Daily Mail.
The whistleblower’s complaint has led to an expanded probe into TWG Global’s investments into the private credit lending industry, which helped him purchase the Dodgers as the CEO of investment firm Guggenheim Partners.
The reported fraud investigation by federal authorities into billionaire sports and entertainment mogul Mark Walter (pictured) began after one of his own employees acted as a whistleblower
US prosecutors are reportedly probing companies run by Walter, 66, the owner of the Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Dodgers and co-owner of Chelsea
Walter’s insurance firm Delaware Life have claimed in recent filings that ‘errors were identified related to the identification and presentation of certain related-party investments.’
The kind of deals TWG was doing by law have to be disclosed to insurance regulators.
Guggenheim has known about the investigation since at least this past September and the FBI has made at least one seizure related to it.
Delaware Life and Clear Spring were subpoenaed in connection with the probe in June, Bloomberg and the Financial Times reported.
The insurer is required by regulators to divest most of its investments by the end of the year.
Walter, who is estimated to be worth $7.3billion, has become one of the most powerful figures in sports after making his fortune on Wall Street.
Walter owns the WNBA’s LA Sparks and is the primary financial backer of the Professional Women’s Hockey League. He also invests in tennis’ Billie Jean King Cup and the Cadillac Formula 1 team.
But he is best known for his roles with Chelsea, the Dodgers and the Lakers. The 66-year-old was part of the consortium – led by Todd Boehly – that paid £2.5bn ($3.36bn) for Premier League giants Chelsea in 2022.
Walter is pictured at the White House alongside President Trump during a celebration of LA’s World Series win
US prosecutors are investigation companies run by Mark Walter, the billionaire owner of the Los Angeles Lakers, the Los Angeles Dodgers and the co-owner of Chelsea
A decade earlier, he led the group that bought the Dodgers out of bankruptcy. Since then, they have become baseball’s dominant force thanks to superstars such as Shohei Ohtani.
Walter bought the Sparks – with Magic Johnson – in 2014 and last year, he became the majority owner of the Lakers in a deal worth a reported $10bn.
Group 1001, an entity of TWG that owns Delaware Life and Clear Spring, told the Financial Times it was co-operating with prosecutors and the SEC, adding it was undertaking ‘remediation plans… to reduce and restructure certain of the investments at issue.’
The Daily Mail has also contacted the Lakers, the Dodgers and Chelsea for comment.
