FBI seized phones from Mark Walter, before Lakers | Sports News

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FBI seized phones from Mark Walter, before Lakers…

The FBI seized the phones of billionaire Mark Walter and a top Guggenheim Investments government last 12 months as federal prosecutors investigated companies in his sprawling financial empire — months before he struck a $12.5 billion deal to promote the Los Angeles Lakers to Josh Kushner and Bob Iger.

Agents took the cellphone of Guggenheim Investments President Dina DiLorenzo in September on the same day they seized Walter’s cellphone and laptop computer, according to the Financial Times, citing people acquainted with the probe.

The seizures point out that federal scrutiny prolonged past Walter-controlled insurance coverage firms — which beforehand disclosed subpoenas from the US attorney’s workplace in Manhattan and the Securities and Exchange Commission — and reached Guggenheim, the $260 billion asset-management giant Walter leads as chief government.

Billionaire Mark Walter’s cellphone and laptop computer had been seized by the FBI as federal prosecutors investigated entities he managed. MediaNews Group via Getty Images

The news comes as authorities have been inspecting accounting and transactions involving companies managed by Walter, including Guggenheim and insurance coverage firms he controls, according to reviews.

Prosecutors targeted on Guggenheim Investments’ accounting for income tied to its non-public investments business, according to the FT.

The report didn’t say Walter or DiLorenzo has been charged with wrongdoing, and said it was unclear what stage the investigations has reached.

The Post has sought remark from Guggenheim Investments and the Justice Department.

Asked about the seizure of DiLorenzo’s cellphone and scrutiny of Guggenheim Investments, the company told FT that auditors “have issued unqualified opinions” for the 2024 and 2025 consolidated financial statements of a subsidiary that owns Guggenheim Private Investments.

DiLorenzo, who has labored at the company for more than 20 years, helped set up its non-public investments business and rose through the firm with Walter as a key ally, according to current and former colleagues cited by the FT.

Guggenheim Investments President Dina DiLorenzo had her cellphone seized by the FBI on the same day brokers seized Mark Walter’s cellphone and laptop computer. Getty Images for Ophelia Eve Jewelry

She was named co-president in 2021 and ultimately got here to oversee Guggenheim’s investment arm.

Walter, who based Guggenheim in 1999 after combining his investment firm with an operation managing half of the Guggenheim household fortune, sits atop a web of financial and sports activities holdings.

He serves as chief government of both Guggenheim Partners and TWG Group, which has a stake in Guggenheim Partners, according to the FT.

The billionaire’s insurance coverage firms, including Delaware Life and Clear Spring Life and Annuity, disclosed in June that they held more than $20 billion in investments in affiliated entities that that they had beforehand categorized as unaffiliated.

Bob Iger and Josh Kushner are main the group shopping for the Los Angeles Lakers from Mark Walter in a report $12.5 billion deal. JASON SZENES/ NY POST

The insurers are now searching for to promote or restructure some of those holdings to scale back their share of related-party investments.

Rob Camacho, a Blackstone veteran recruited to Walter’s companies two years in the past, is main the cleanup effort at the insurers and efforts to promote TWG belongings to raise money for them, according to the FT.

In the midst of the reported probe, Walter on Wednesday announced a deal to promote the Lakers to a group led by Kushner and Iger that values the storied NBA franchise at a report $12.5 billion.

Walter had taken majority control of the Lakers in 2025 after he and longtime business companion Todd Boehly purchased a 27% stake in the crew from AEG in 2021.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver, Joshua Kushner and Bob Iger watch the US Open Tennis Championships in September of last 12 months. JASON SZENES/ NY POST

The Lakers have little important publicity to Walter’s insurers, but proceeds from the sale may help TWG repay some of the insurers’ affiliate loans, according to the FT.

The latest scrutiny provides to a historical past of regulatory complications at Guggenheim under Walter.

In 2015, Guggenheim Partners Investment Management paid $20 million to settle SEC costs that included failing to disclose a $50 million loan made by an advisory shopper to an unnamed senior Guggenheim government, as effectively as improper charges and compliance failures.

The Lakers sale may help Walter’s TWG pay down some affiliate loans owed to his insurers, according to the Financial Times. Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves are pictured in March. Getty Images

The SEC didn’t establish Walter as the chief who obtained the loan.

A separate SEC investigation reported in 2018 examined transactions involving an $85 million Malibu property co-owned by Walter and other dealings involving a firm run by former Guggenheim managers.

That investigation ended in 2019 without a penalty, according to Forbes.

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