Lakers Owner Sells to Jared Kushner’s Brother as Trump DOJ Probes His Business Empire

The timing is interesting, at least.

Private equity kingpin Mark Walter sale of the Los Angeles Lakers comes a month after The Wall Street Journal reported the Justice Department opened an investigation into Walter’s sprawling business empire last year.

News broke Wednesday that Walter sold to ex-Disney CEO Bob Iger and venture capitalist Joshua Kushner, the younger brother of President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner in a whopping $12.5 billion deal just 14 months after he purchased a controlling interest in the famous franchise for a then-record $10 billion.

Authorities are probing Walter’s businesses for possible fraud, the WSJ reported:

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan and the Securities and Exchange Commission are now examining how around $16 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, the people familiar with the matter said. The authorities are trying to determine whether the activity constituted fraud, one of the people said.

Such related-party transactions must be disclosed to insurance regulators, a rule meant to limit conflicts of interest and protect policyholders. Walter’s insurance firms said in recent filings that they had reviewed their transactions after receiving subpoenas and had identified problems with how certain transactions were presented.

The investigation poses a “serious threat” to Walter’s businesses, which include Guggenheim Partners, the asset-management firm he co-founded in 1999, according to the report. Walter parlayed his financial success into purchasing the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2012, and he added the city’s historic hoops team to his portfolio in 2025.

Much was made about the new ownership group harnessing its Dodgers wisdom — the franchise has won three World Series since 2020 — into bringing the Lakers back to the top of the NBA, but that plan now appears to have been aborted.

Kushner is the founder of venture capital firm Thrive Capital, and Iger was the chief executive of Disney twice, with his most recent run ending earlier this year.

The federal probe did not seem to weigh on Trump or Walter when the Dodgers visited the White House last month, though. The president called Walter a “friend” and a “great” owner, while Walter and the club presented Trump with his own championship ring.

Watch the CNN report above.

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