Add The California Post on Google Pablo Torre broke the biggest story in sports when he delved into the Los Angeles Clippers and Kawhi Leonard investigation.
Torre, a Pulitzer-winning journalist, has now taken an interest in investigating the situation surrounding the Los Angeles Dodgers and owner Mark Walter, who has been accused of committing fraud through his insurance companies.
Torre uncovered seemingly illicit ties between Lakers Hall of Famer Magic Johnson and Walter on his podcast, Pablo Torre Finds Out. As a minority owner of the Dodgers, Johnson became a billionaire.
Johnson is the majority owner of EquiTrust Life Insurance Company since April 25, 2014, which was sold to him by Walter. The asset became the largest of Johnson’s business portfolio, helping the Lakers legend reach billionaire status in 2023.
“EquiTrust, which is this life insurance company, was being sold by Mark Walter to Magic Johnson, his fellow Dodgers co-owner. And it was also loaning $350 million to Mark Walter’s media company…” Torre said.
The transaction was allegedly not disclosed as an affiliate transaction, according to Torre and Sam Koppelman of Hunterbrook Media.
The undisclosed transactions have led federal authorities to investigate Walter’s business empire because it seemingly has affected the public.
“And by these people, Pablo means you, the ordinary Americans whose money has been used to help fund the purchases of these sports teams as they’ve gotten ever more expensive,” Koppelman said.
“Someone is getting screwed over here. And it’s not Magic Johnson and it’s not Mark Walter. It’s potentially the ordinary Americans whose money is being invested…”
Torre also ties this to the sale of the Dodgers to Walter.
David Samson, a former president of the Miami Marlins, appeared on the Pablo Torre Finds Out podcast and explained MLB owners were caught by surprise about Walter’s purchase of the Dodgers.
“[Mark Walter] didn’t have a sports empire at that time. We assumed that Magic Johnson was a celebrity endorser. He’s an icon in LA. It’s like having a friend of the court. It’s like walking around with the pope,” Samson said to Torre.
Walter was one of several bidders for the team, with others including Stan Kroenke, who recently purchased the Los Angeles Angels and is the owner of the Los Angeles Rams, and Steve Cohen, owner of the New York Mets. According to Samson, all three bidders were in the same price range of $1.5 billion.
“All three parties bidding for the Dodgers were in the same neighborhood. Then one day, we got information from [Major League Baseball] that a deal had been struck that we needed to approve where the Dodgers would be sold for over $2 billion to Mark Walter and Guggenheim,” Samson said.
“The first question that everyone in the owner’s room asks, what happened? The reason Mark Walter increased his bid for the Dodgers was that at the same time Mark Walter and Guggenheim got a deal themselves from Major League Baseball where they had a cap given to them of how much broadcast revenue would be subject to revenue sharing.”
Essentially, MLB appears to have allowed the Dodgers to pocket more of the money from its TV deal in exchange for Walter purchasing the team at a higher price.
Walter’s bid suddenly skyrocketed to more than $2 billion, allowing the business tycoon to finalize the Dodgers sale but raised several red flags. Nevertheless, the deal was approved by MLB owners and Samson said it was the catalyst for record-breaking sports valuations.
“It was the springboard from which these amazing valuations have come. If you asked [former MLB Commissioner Bud Selig] and he were honest with you, he would tell you that his main job was not the fans. It wasn’t the players. His main job was to increase the value of the 30 teams. And he did it with this deal that was cut with Mark Walter,” Samson said.
Torre reiterated that Walter’s purchase of the Dodgers was contingent on the TV deal with SportsNet LA, which is also owned by Walter via one of his LLCs known as American Media Productions.
Johnson also played a key role in negotiating the massive 25-year, $8.35 billion agreement with Time Warner Cable. It is the largest TV deal in sports history and allowed Walter to buy the Dodgers at $2.5 billion.
Though the deal followed the purchase of the Dodgers, there was allegedly an informal agreement between Walter and Time Warner Cable already in place, per Torre. David Rone, who was the president of Time Warner Cable Sports at the time, was later hired by Guggenheim in late 2016 as the company-wide head of strategy.
Rone is now a managing partner at Guggenheim, Walter’s group that owns the Dodgers.
The billionaire sports mogul has denied the allegations, but remains under federal investigation.
“As it relates to Guggenheim, while the investigations originated with a whistleblower concern, TWG and Guggenheim have demonstrated there was no wrongdoing,” the statement read.
“There is no victim here…Affiliated transactions are common across the insurance industry…[TWG is] not looking to sell their sports assets, including the Los Angeles Dodgers, at fire sale prices to raise capital for its insurance operations.”
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