Los Angeles Dodgers owner Mark Walter faces insurance fraud allegations in a new class action lawsuit amid an ongoing federal investigation. Walter, Delaware Life Insurance Company, Group 1001, TWG Global, and Guggenheim Partners are all named as defendants in the complaint.
According to the lawsuit, the companies allegedly misrepresented the degree to which investments backed by policyholders were connected to Mark Walter-related companies, and annuity holders suffered as a result of this concealment.
Front Office Sports reports that the complaint includes nine accusations, including assisting and abetting fraud, breach of contract, and fraudulent concealment. The lawsuit says it expects at least $5 million in damages, but it doesn’t provide a specific number. “Tens of thousands” of annuity buyers nationwide are anticipated to be part of the class.
It also alleges that by covertly transferring policyholders’ funds into a fund that supports Walter’s wider business network, the insurance firms deceived policyholders about the structure of their annuity packages. Along with other ventures, Walter’s Guggenheim Partners allegedly used that wealth to buy the Dodgers in 2012, and Walter purchased a majority stake in the Los Angeles Lakers in 2025.
Mark Walter has been sued before on similar grounds
Mark Walter has been the target of at least two other lawsuits alleging fraud. Last month, The Athletic revealed that two policyholders filed a class-action lawsuit in 2014, claiming that Todd Boehly, a co-owner of the Dodgers, and Walter used the businesses “as a cash machine to buy the most expensive sports franchise in world history, the Dodgers, with over a billion dollars in policyholders’ funds.” One day after filing the lawsuit, the plaintiff dropped the case without any explanation. In 2019, a policyholder with similar claims filed a separate action, which a Kansas judge also dismissed.
The Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York have been investigating Mark Walter since last year following a whistleblower complaint about misrepresented loans between businesses in his portfolio.
So far in the investigation, authorities have served grand jury subpoenas on Delaware Life and Clear Spring Life and Annuity, two of his insurance firms. In September of last year, FBI officials reportedly confiscated Walter’s computer and cellphone while executing a search warrant on his private jet in Chicago.
Joshua Kushner, founder of Thrive Capital and former Disney CEO Bob Iger have agreed to buy the Dodgers from Mark Walter for $12.5 billion. The NBA’s Board of Governors has yet to approve the sale. On Wednesday, Clearlake Capital said that it will buy Walter and Boehly’s shares in Chelsea, an English Premier League team.
Walter also owns Cadillac’s Formula One team, the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks, the Professional Women’s Hockey League, and the holding company for the Billie Jean King Cup in tennis.