Only months after buying the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers for $10 billion, PWHL owner Mark Walter is selling the team amidst ongoing federal investigations into potential fraud by prosecutors, the SEC, and FBI as the plot continues to thicken.
PWHL owner Mark Walter has been at the centre of numerous reports involving investigations into possible fraud, and now a rapid reversal in his purchase of the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers.
Mark Walter purchased the Los Angeles Lakers for $10 billion, a deal only approved by the NBA's board of governors in October 2025. Now, less than a year later, he's reportedly selling the team to Josh Kushner and Bob Iger for $12.5 billion.
Without the context of the ongoing investigations, the deal looks like a quick flip with a massive return on investment for Walter.
The investigation by federal prosecutors, the SEC, and FBI is looking into Walter's companies and their investment of $16 billion dollars of related-party transactions. That money from life insurance companies owned by Walter's companies was re-invested back into other Walter affiliated dealings.
The Los Angeles Times reported that Walter used similar maneuvers to purchase the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2012. The Wall Street Journal said Walter's related-party transactions "supplied the financial firepower" for Walter to buy the MLB team.That deal was vetted by regulators and approved.
To date, no public connection has been made tying the most recent related-party investments to the purchase of the Los Angeles Lakers for $10 billion in 2025.
It's not illegal for insurers to make loans to related parties, however, Walter's companies reported only $1 billion in such loans, not the $16 billion that was later revealed. Such loans are required to be disclosed as they typically receive additional scrutiny from regulators.
The current investigation as Bloomberg reported, relates to a Chicago firm Hudson Trading Inc as "Investigators are trying to determine whether the Hudson-related entities were used as cutouts, allowing the insurers to report that loans went to independent third parties when the money actually flowed back to Walter ventures..."
The sale of the Los Angeles Lakers to Iger and Josh Kushner comes only weeks after Kushner was involved in another sports controversy, as Kushner and his company Thrive Capital attempted, alongside FIFA President Gianni Infantino, to turn the World Cup into a privately driven commercial venture. The venture, which was denounced and opposed by sports fans, soccer associations, and international bodies across the globe would have involved the formation of a $20 billion company run by Kushner. FIFA later reversed those plans after massive pushback from organizations including UEFA and CONCACAF.
Kushner is the brother of Jared Kushner, who has served official roles in American President Donald Trump's administration. Jared Kushner is married to Trump's daughter Ivanka. Josh and Jared Kushner's father, Charles Kushner, was an American real estate investor who was convicted of tax evasion and witness tampering in 2005. President Trump pardoned Charles Kushner in 2020, and made him the United States' ambassador to France and Monaco in 2025.
Mark Walter recently visited President Donald Trump at the White House, amidst the ongoing investigations, alongside members of the Los Angeles Dodgers to celebrate their 2025 World Series title.
Kushner and Iger, the former CEO of Disney, released a statement on Wednesday regarding their proposed purchase of the Lakers.
“As lifelong NBA fans, we are deeply honored for the opportunity to become stewards of the Los Angeles Lakers, one of the most iconic sports franchises in the world,” Iger and Kushner said in their statement. “We have immense respect for the leadership and vision of Jerry and Jeanie Buss. Our long-term commitment is to build on that foundation, compete at the highest level, and serve this extraordinary team, its fans, and the city of Los Angeles.”
Walter funded the founding of the Professional Women's Hockey League in 2023 as a six team league. In the past three seasons he's continued funding the expansion of the league to eight teams in 2025 and 12 teams in 2026.
The potential impact on the PWHL of the ongoing financial investigations is currently unknown and the PWHL has yet to publicly comment on the situation.
