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Dodgers owner Mark Walter and NBA great Magic Johnson drawn into controversy

From TVN Panamá · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Under investigation
  • A report alleges that Dodgers owner Mark Walter made undisclosed arrangements with Earvin “Magic” Johnson after acquiring the team in 2012.
  • The reported arrangements involved Walter’s 2015 sale of insurer EquiTrust to Johnson for $350 million, which helped make Johnson a billionaire.
  • Walter has denied wrongdoing, while the report also says the FBI is investigating potentially undisclosed affiliated investments by some of his companies.

Los Angeles Dodgers owner Mark Walter has become the focus of a new controversy after a report alleged that he made undisclosed arrangements with his business partner, Earvin “Magic” Johnson, following the 2012 purchase of the Major League Baseball franchise.

An incentive in himself for billionaire sports-team owners.

· Pablo TorreTorre used the phrase while describing Mark Walter on television.

The allegations appeared Friday on the program Pablo Torre Finds Out. Sources cited by Torre said the arrangements involved Walter's 2015 sale of the insurer EquiTrust to Johnson for $350 million. The transaction helped turn the former Los Angeles Lakers star into a billionaire.

According to the report, the sale may have amounted to compensation for Johnson's role in helping Walter's group win the bidding for the Dodgers. Johnson used his popularity and influence to support the offer, which ultimately secured the historic Los Angeles franchise. The Dodgers have won the past two World Series, the article says.

Magic Johnson is one of the key figures in all of this.

· Pablo TorreTorre emphasized Johnson's role in the reported arrangements.

The report also says Walter is the subject of an FBI investigation involving allegedly undeclared investments linked to some of his companies. That situation could expose him to tax-fraud allegations. Walter has previously rejected any irregularities. Through his company TWG Global, he said last month that the Dodgers acquisition complied with all Major League Baseball rules and regulations, and that an independent review by an outside law firm found no wrongdoing.

Mark Walter, his business partner, sold him one of these insurance companies. That made him a billionaire in the process.

· Pablo TorreTorre described the reported EquiTrust transaction.

Walter also holds interests in a holding company that controls Chelsea in England's Premier League, Strasbourg in France, the Cadillac Formula One team, a professional women's ice hockey league and the Los Angeles Sparks of the WNBA. Torre described Walter as "an incentive in himself for billionaire sports-team owners" and said, "Magic Johnson is one of the key figures in all of this."

Together they managed to buy and finance the Dodgers using, in practice, the law of transitivity through what borrowing money involves: the savings of America's parents and grandparents who did not realize this was happening.

· Pablo TorreTorre criticized the structure of the reported financing.
About this summary

Originally published by TVN Panamá in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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