Lakers Owner Mark Walter Suddenly Sells Team Amid Federal Investigation

Out of nowhere, and after only a few short days of negotiations, Joshua Kushner and Bob Iger have agreed to buy the Los Angeles Lakers from Mark Walter for a https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/49590362/josh-kushner-bob-iger-buy-lakers-12b">reported record price of $12.5 billion.

Every part of that sentence is wild, especially given the recent financial maneuverings of Walter and Kushner.

Let's start with Walter, who https://defector.com/with-the-lakers-sale-the-nbas-old-ownership-class-is-nearly-extinct">bought the Lakers in June 2025 for $10 billion.

Walter also owns the Los Angeles Dodgers and has turned them into an organization so hyper-competent that it has made people who should know better argue for a https://defector.com/if-baseball-is-ruined-show-me-the-ruins">salary cap in baseball.

Walter's takeover of one of the NBA's flagship franchises was the most significant acquisition in a recent wave of sales that included the https://defector.com/group-led-by-private-equity-ghoul-buys-boston-celtics-for-6-1-billion">Celtics, https://defector.com/tom-dundon-applies-his-chintzy-tactics-to-the-trail-blazers">Trail Blazers, and https://defector.com/the-ridiculous-timberwolves-ownership-sagas-end-is-in-sight">Timberwolves.

As of the second half of this past season, Walter was beginning the process of https://x.com/TrevorLane/status/2024568021813956695">replacing longtime functionaries of the previous ownership group, the Buss family.

With Luka Doncic around, the long-term future of the team seemed secure.

However, Walter's position was not as secure as it seemed. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-20/billionaire-mark-walter-s-firms-probed-by-federal-prosecutors">Bloomberg reported on July 20 that the federal government was conducting an investigation into Walter's Guggenheim Partners over some suspicious accounting.

The heart of the issue is billions of dollars in private credit deals between companies within Walter's business empire.

Private credit has been having a moment on Wall Street for a few years now, for the way the financing tool allows sprawling entities to move around money without as much regulatory scrutiny.

At specific issue in this investigation, https://www.wsj.com/finance/regulation/federal-probe-into-dodgers-owners-financial-empire-was-sparked-by-whistleblower-013b0053">per the Wall Street Journal, is that nearly "$21 billion in loans extended to companies tied to Walter or his conglomerate, TWG Global, wound up on the books of insurance companies he owns after passing through a third entity." Insurance companies, in this case Delaware Life Insurance and Clear Spring Life, are subject to stricter regulations than many other financial institutions, because the money needs to be in place for when policyholders make claims.