$350 million. That is the size of a 2014 loan at the center of a new podcast investigation into Dodgers owner Mark Walter. According to the Pablo Torre Finds Out episode, an insurance company affiliated with Walter’s Guggenheim Partners lent the money to a Walter-controlled LLC that owned SportsNet Los Angeles. The podcast calls it one of several instances of apparent self-dealing.
USA TODAY Sports reached out to Guggenheim for comment.
The loan
The lender was EquiTrust, a Guggenheim-owned insurer. It did not disclose that the borrower, Walter’s American Media Productions LLC, was an affiliated partner, according to Hunterbrook Media, which shared its findings with Torre. The money arrived just as the Dodgers’ $8.35 billion local TV deal with Time Warner was taking effect. That contract guaranteed the club more than $330 million a year in media rights. At the time, SportsNet LA was blacked out on several cable and satellite providers around Los Angeles because of its high carriage fee.
It was by far the largest local TV deal any sports franchise had signed. It gained value because Major League Baseball, when it approved Walter’s $2.15 billion purchase of the Dodgers in 2012, let the club shield more of the money than usual from revenue-sharing pools.
Walter, Guggenheim’s longtime CEO, is already the subject of multiple federal investigations into more than $21 billion in loans, made by two Delaware insurers he owns, that were not disclosed to state insurance regulators. The Department of Justice and the SEC are running concurrent probes. The FBI seized his cellphone and computer a year ago.
The people around the deal
The podcast reported that several people involved in the Dodgers purchase and in building the cable deal later landed influential, potentially lucrative jobs at Guggenheim or its affiliates. David Rone, architect of the TV deal as president of Time Warner Cable Networks and Time Warner Cable Sports, left in 2015. In 2016 Guggenheim made him senior managing director and head of strategy. He became co-president of Guggenheim Investments and remains a senior executive.
Magic Johnson joined Walter’s bidding group early, in a field of finalists that included Stan Kroenke. His L.A. credentials probably counted for more than his small stake. Less than two years after Walter won the team, Johnson became controlling shareholder of EquiTrust, in January 2014. He hired longtime friend and business partner Eric Holoman as managing partner. Hunterbrook, citing SEC filings, reported that EquiTrust went on to invest over $100 million in the JLC Infrastructure Fund of Johnson and Holoman. Like the media loan, the filings list that investment as “unaffiliated,” although federal law requires disclosure of affiliated parties.
EquiTrust was sold in 2025 to Amistad Financial Group, which is also under DOJ investigation. Holoman is its managing founder. USA TODAY Sports has asked Johnson’s company for comment.
Walter’s response, and the Lakers
On Aug. 26, The Walter Group issued a statement rejecting the idea that the Dodgers purchase was propped up by insurance money. “The allegation that the Los Angeles Dodgers were acquired or have been funded improperly is false and not supported by facts,” it said. “The Dodgers transaction was subject to significant scrutiny and complied with all rules and regulations that govern the purchase of Major League Baseball teams.”
Puck Media reported last month that Walter approached Charter Communications, which merged with Time Warner, offering to release the cable network from the deal for a lump sum. Charter refused, Puck reported. Walter then completed the $12.5 billion sale of the Lakers, 11 months after buying them for $10 billion.
Dodgers president Stan Kasten has repeated that the club, in first place in the NL West and chasing a third straight World Series title, is not for sale. Walter and fellow minority owner Todd Boehly remain in talks to sell their shares in Chelsea.
