TWG Global, the holding company of Los Angeles Dodgers owner Mark Walter, issued a lengthy statement Wednesday to address what it called "substantial speculation and misinformation" in the wake of a federal probe into potential financial improprieties within the company.
The company emphasized what Dodgers CEO Stan Kasten recently expressed publicly on two occasions in the span of eight days, saying: "To be clear, the team is not being sold and no sale process has been initiated."
A potential sale of the Dodgers, a franchise widely expected to fetch at least $10 billion in the open market, has been the subject of rampant speculation in the wake of Walter's stunning sale of the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers for a record $12.5 billion valuation on Aug. 12, less than 10 months after being approved as majority owner.
The sale came after reports of a whistleblower complaint prompted insurance regulators and federal investigators to look into allegations that insurance companies owned by Walter -- Delaware Life Co. and Clear Springs Life and Annuity Co., operating under the parent company Group 1001 -- did not properly disclose that billions of dollars in private credit holdings backed other parts of Walter's business ventures.
That probe -- along with sources telling ESPN that Walter is looking to sell his stake in Chelsea Football Club, and a report from Puck that he sought to cash out of his sweetheart Dodgers television deal with Charter Communications -- triggered wide-ranging discourse that the Dodgers have been funded fraudulently.
TWG called those allegations "false and not supported by the facts."
"The Dodgers have the highest revenue in baseball," TWG said in its statement, "and it significantly exceeds the team's obligations to its players."
TWG also disputed the notion that the Lakers were part of a fire sale, stating that Walter was approached by Josh Kushner, who ultimately bought the franchise alongside Bob Iger, and that "the agreement represents a 25% premium to the price paid by Mr. Walter less than a year ago." Walter is "not considering exiting" his stake in the Cadillac Formula 1 team or any part of TWG Motorsports, the company added.
Insurance companies must hold premiums in safe, predictable accounts in order to guarantee future payouts and protect consumers from insolvency. Channeling those funds into hidden loans supporting other parts of a business puts policy holders in extreme risk and is a major red flag for insurance regulators. But Guggenheim has "demonstrated there was no wrongdoing" in the wake of the whistleblower complaint, TWG said.
"There is no victim here. No one has been harmed, and no one has claimed they were harmed."
