{"id":783653,"date":"2026-08-20T11:30:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T11:30:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/783653\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T11:30:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T11:30:16","slug":"the-dodgers-are-mark-walters-crown-jewel-can-he-hold-on-to-it-amid-federal-probe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/783653\/","title":{"rendered":"The Dodgers are Mark Walter’s crown jewel. Can he hold on to it amid federal probe?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When the news broke last week that Mark Walter was selling<\/a> the Lakers just one year after buying<\/a> the storied basketball franchise, executives working for another crown jewel in his sports empire \u2014 the Dodgers \u2014 were quick to say the billionaire had no plans to sell the team.<\/p>\n

The Dodgers have won three of the last six World Series and 12 division titles since an ownership group led by Walter bought the then-bankrupt team<\/a> in 2012, and the Dodgers now are considered the most successful \u2014 and lucrative<\/a> \u2014 franchise in Major League Baseball.<\/p>\n

Yet, amid Walter\u2019s financial difficulties, including a federal inquiry <\/a> into his insurance empire regarding $16 billion to $21 billion<\/a> in undisclosed loans to his own companies, questions remain over whether the blowback will hit the Dodgers. <\/p>\n

Walter has denied wrongdoing, and sports business experts say it\u2019s far too soon to know whether the Dodgers will be in play. No charges have been filed against Walter or anyone associated with his businesses.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re judging on that \u2014 winning and revenue created \u2014 he\u2019s been at the helm of all of that. \u2026 He does truly look like a white knight as it relates to his ownership of the Dodgers,\u201d said Patrick Rishe, executive director of the Sports Business Program at Washington University in St. Louis. Still, \u201cwe don\u2019t know what the issues are, and we don\u2019t know the severity and the magnitude.\u201d <\/p>\n

Aside from the Lakers, the Dodgers are, by far, the most valuable of Walter\u2019s handful of sports franchises, and industry sources not authorized to speak publicly about any potential sale told The Times that the team could fetch $10 billion to $13 billion. <\/p>\n

Walter\u2019s sports portfolio includes the Los Angeles Sparks of the Women\u2019s National Basketball Assn.; the Cadillac Formula 1 racing team; a premier women\u2019s tennis competition, the Billie Jean King Cup; and the entire Professional Women\u2019s Hockey League. The Bloomberg Billionaires Index estimates Walter has a net worth of $18.3 billion.<\/p>\n

There have been reports that he is putting his shares<\/a> of his most valuable professional soccer franchise, the Chelsea Football Club of the English Premier League, on the market. <\/p>\n

But the Dodgers are the greatest show in baseball, playing before stadiums packed with fans willing to shell out top dollar<\/a> to see a roster that includes international superstars Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto. <\/p>\n

Last week, Dodgers president and part-owner Stan Kasten said<\/a> the Lakers sale \u201creally has nothing to do with the Dodgers\u201d and that \u201cthere are no changes here or contemplated here.\u201d And Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said at a news conference that he was \u201cshocked\u201d by news of the Lakers sale and had not heard of any potential changes to Dodgers ownership.<\/p>\n

Andrew Granato, a law professor at the University of Texas at Austin who specializes in corporate finance and insurance, said that although it was not yet clear whether Walter would offload the Dodgers, it would not be impossible, given the speed and scale of the billionaire\u2019s recent financial transactions and the mounting federal and public scrutiny. <\/p>\n

\u201cI imagine that no fan feels particularly comfortable if the owner of their favorite team is under … investigation. Certainly, it\u2019s not an ideal situation,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Walter was riding high after the Dodgers\u2019 success and his $10-billion purchase<\/a> of the Lakers last year. But the last few months have been challenging.<\/p>\n

The loans by two Delaware life insurers that Walter owns were made to companies tied to him or his TWG Global holding company but were not disclosed as \u201crelated party\u201d transactions as required, the Wall Street Journal<\/a> reported. Related-party transactions made by insurers are required to be reported to limit conflicts of interest and protect policyholders, who have an interest in the financial strength of their insurers.<\/p>\n

Walter, the 66-year-old chief executive of Chicago investment firm Guggenheim Partners, led a group that included another Guggenheim executive and Magic Johnson in acquiring the Dodgers for $2.15 billion in 2012, then a record for an MLB team. <\/p>\n

The Times has reported <\/a>that he tapped the insurers he owned for financing, a deal that was later vetted by state insurance regulators.<\/p>\n

However, the amount of related-party loans made by the two affiliated life insurers now under federal scrutiny is vastly more, amounting to 40% of the invested assets of Delaware Life as of Dec. 31, according to Fitch Ratings<\/a>. The credit rating firm said that is the most of any North American life insurers it reviews.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear where the money went, but the Wall Street Journal reported that billions were passed through a third party before being received by entities tied to Walter or his TWG Global holding company<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Last week, Walter stunned the sports world by selling a majority stake in the Lakers for $12.5 billion<\/a> to former Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger and venture capitalist Joshua Kushner, who is the brother of President Trump\u2019s son-in-law Jared Kushner.<\/p>\n

Walter has declined to comment on whether the sale was tied to the federal investigation. <\/p>\n

The framework for a deal was consummated in a matter of days, Iger told interviewers last week. It still must be approved by the NBA Board of Governors, which meets in September.<\/p>\n

Projecting an exact value for the Dodgers is difficult because MLB and its players union are engaged in contentious collective bargaining negotiations<\/a> that many experts believe could result in a lockout when the current agreement expires in December.<\/p>\n

Should a salary cap<\/a> be agreed upon for the first time in MLB history, the valuation could jump to the high end, the source said. And about $1 billion of any sale would be subtracted to cover the Dodgers\u2019 future commitments on deferred contracts.<\/p>\n

The Dodgers\u2019 massive local television deal with SportsNet LA directly elevates the franchise\u2019s overall valuation. <\/p>\n

Listing potential buyers should the Dodgers be for sale is challenging because the estimated value of the franchise is so much greater than almost any other MLB team. The record price for a sports franchise was the $12.5 billion for the Lakers. <\/p>\n

Besides Kushner and Iger, those who have bid for teams aren\u2019t in the $10-million-plus ballpark. The San Diego Padres were sold last week for $3.9 billion to Jos\u00e9 E. Feliciano and Kwanza Jones.<\/p>\n

Another question that has arisen as Walter\u2019s financial troubles have garnered headlines is whether MLB would conduct its own investigation into Dodgers ownership or pressure the billionaire and his partners to sell the team. <\/p>\n

\u201cAny time there is any kind of public question about owners, they look into it,\u201d former Dodgers president Bob Graziano told The Times. \u201cI would guess, because there is a federal investigation going on, they\u2019re not launching their own investigation, but they are going to wait to see what comes out of the federal investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n

No investigation of any kind into the matter has been announced by MLB. <\/p>\n

MLB has never formally stripped an owner of a franchise or forced an outright sale through a vote of franchise owners. But the league forced Frank McCourt to sell the Dodgers in 2012 by exerting pressure and threatening a financial takeover or disciplinary action that would have stripped operational control.<\/p>\n

When McCourt sold the team to Walter\u2019s Guggenheim group, the franchise was in Chapter 11 bankruptcy. <\/p>\n

When Guggenheim purchased the team in 2012, it outbid billionaire hedge fund manager Steven Cohen, who now owns the New York Mets. A group headed by former Yankees and Dodgers manager Joe Torre<\/a> and L.A. developer Rick Caruso dropped out of the bidding ahead of Cohen. Additional bidders included media executive Leo Hindery, billionaire Tom Barrack, then-St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke<\/a> and Jared Kushner. <\/p>\n

Times staff writer Laurence Darmiento contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When the news broke last week that Mark Walter was selling the Lakers just one year after buying…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":783654,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2406],"tags":[5,25063,96361,39,9854,1282,7040,1165,4332,4333,1562,5954,774,57,3224,4331,24934,4,96360,1836,4709,235,5005],"class_list":["post-783653","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles-dodgers","tag-baseball","tag-billionaire","tag-delaware-life-insurer","tag-dodgers","tag-franchise","tag-group","tag-investigation","tag-la","tag-la-dodgers","tag-ladodgers","tag-lakers","tag-last-week","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-dodgers","tag-losangeles","tag-losangelesdodgers","tag-mark-walter","tag-mlb","tag-own-company","tag-question","tag-sale","tag-team","tag-times"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/117127611939342988","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/783653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=783653"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/783653\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/783654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=783653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=783653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=783653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}