FBI seized phones from Mark Walter, before Lakers – Business News
The FBI seized the phones of billionaire Mark Walter and a prime Guggenheim Investments govt final 12 months as federal prosecutors investigated companies in his sprawling financial empire — months before he struck a $12.5 billion deal to sell the Los Angeles Lakers to Josh Kushner and Bob Iger.
Agents took the cellphone of Guggenheim Investments President Dina DiLorenzo in September on the identical day they seized Walter’s cellphone and laptop computer, in keeping with 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 lawyer’s workplace in Manhattan and the Securities and Exchange Commission — and reached Guggenheim, the $260 billion asset-management giant Walter leads as chief govt.
Billionaire Mark Walter’s cellphone and laptop computer have been seized by the FBI as federal prosecutors investigated entities he managed. MediaNews Group by way of Getty Images
The information comes as authorities have been analyzing accounting and transactions involving companies managed by Walter, together with Guggenheim and insurance coverage firms he controls, in keeping with reviews.
Prosecutors centered on Guggenheim Investments’ accounting for income tied to its non-public investments business, in keeping with the FT.
The report didn’t say Walter or DiLorenzo has been charged with wrongdoing, and stated it was unclear what stage the investigations has reached.
The Post has sought remark from Guggenheim Investments and the Justice Department.
Asked in regards to the seizure of DiLorenzo’s cellphone and scrutiny of Guggenheim Investments, the company advised 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 on the company for more than 20 years, helped set up its non-public investments business and rose by way of the firm with Walter as a key ally, in keeping with present and former colleagues cited by the FT.
Guggenheim Investments President Dina DiLorenzo had her cellphone seized by the FBI on the identical 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 supervise 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 govt of each Guggenheim Partners and TWG Group, which has a stake in Guggenheim Partners, in keeping with the FT.
The billionaire’s insurance coverage firms, together with 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 categorised as unaffiliated.
Bob Iger and Josh Kushner are main the group shopping for the Los Angeles Lakers from Mark Walter in a file $12.5 billion deal. JASON SZENES/ NY POST
The insurers at the moment are searching for to sell or restructure some of these holdings to scale back their proportion of related-party investments.
Rob Camacho, a Blackstone veteran recruited to Walter’s companies two years in the past, is main the cleanup effort on the insurers and efforts to sell TWG property to raise money for them, in keeping with the FT.
In the midst of the reported probe, Walter on Wednesday introduced a deal to sell the Lakers to a group led by Kushner and Iger that values the storied NBA franchise at a file $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 within the workforce from AEG in 2021.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver, Joshua Kushner and Bob Iger watch the US Open Tennis Championships in September of final 12 months. JASON SZENES/ NY POST
The Lakers have little important publicity to Walter’s insurers, however proceeds from the sale might help TWG repay some of the insurers’ affiliate loans, in keeping with the FT.
The newest scrutiny provides to a historical past of regulatory complications at Guggenheim below Walter.
In 2015, Guggenheim Partners Investment Management paid $20 million to settle SEC expenses that included failing to reveal a $50 million loan made by an advisory consumer to an unnamed senior Guggenheim govt, in addition to improper charges and compliance failures.
The Lakers sale might help Walter’s TWG pay down some affiliate loans owed to his insurers, in keeping with the Financial Times. Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves are pictured in March. Getty Images
The SEC didn’t establish Walter as the manager who obtained the loan.
A separate SEC investigation reported in 2018 examined transactions involving an $85 million Malibu property co-owned by Walter and different dealings involving a firm run by former Guggenheim managers.
That investigation resulted in 2019 with out a penalty, in keeping with Forbes.
