Lakers controlling owner Mark Walter is facing another legal challenge, and two of his most prominent sports properties have been pulled into the discussion.
A proposed class-action lawsuit filed Wednesday in Florida federal court accuses Walter and several affiliated companies of understating how much policyholder-backed money was invested in businesses connected to him, according to Front Office Sports.
The Lakers and Dodgers are not defendants, and neither franchise is accused of wrongdoing. The complaint instead raises questions about whether insurance money helped Walter finance his sports holdings.
The named plaintiff is 67-year-old Florida resident Ira Rosner, who placed more than $1 million into a Delaware Life annuity in April. The suit seeks at least $5 million on behalf of what it describes as tens of thousands of annuity buyers.
Delaware Life previously told regulators that approximately $1.4 billion, or 3 percent of its invested assets, was tied to affiliated companies. After federal grand jury subpoenas and an internal review, that figure reportedly was restated at more than $17 billion, or about 40 percent.
The complaint arrived one day after NBA commissioner Adam Silver said the league found “no red flags” while vetting Walter.
As Lakers Daily noted, the filing also references the pending $12.5 billion Lakers sale and Walter’s reported effort to obtain billions in short-term loans. It does not establish where that money went.
Walter remains the Lakers’ controlling owner while the proposed sale to Josh Kushner and Bob Iger awaits NBA approval.
Of course, the larger concern is no longer whether Walter’s insurance empire and sports assets will be discussed together. It’s whether that scrutiny complicates the sale.
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