r/baseball • u/f0urxio • Sep 04 '26

Players Only [SBNation] Pablo Torre’s Dodgers bombshell reveals real threat to every American: teased deepdive into financials of Walter & Dodgers, an alleged shell game of investments & insider deals which are now under scrutiny of federal government, which could wind up with Walter and Magic Johnson in prison

https://www.sbnation.com/mlb/1127272/pablo-torre-dodgers-bombshell-reveals-mark-walter-guggenheim
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u/dekrowman Sep 04 '26

The allegation is that Walter may have used ordinary people's life-insurance and annuity money as a giant financing pool to help buy and inflate the value of sports franchises he controlled, while hiding or inadequately disclosing some of the related-party transactions.

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u/the_gaymer_girl Toronto Blue Jays Sep 04 '26

It’s not illegal to invest people’s premiums into sports teams, the problem is he massively oversold the money he had from that source.

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u/a_smart_brane Los Angeles Dodgers Sep 05 '26

Not a financial guy, but an actual financial guy said exactly what you said, plus the fact that Walter didn’t report it.

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u/Ron-Mexic0 New York Yankees Sep 05 '26

Yeah public pensions and life insurance companies are like the biggest institutional investors on earth. They have billions of dollars to manage and the only way to manage all of that responsibly is to invest it in a whole bunch of different asset classes. Sports is just the latest frontier for private equity I guess

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u/EnvironmentalAngle Florida Marlins Sep 05 '26

Its not that its not illegal, the problem is due to Dodd Frank life insurance companies are automatically bailed out if they go bankrupt.

It means Walter and all the other companies doing this get to make all these bets without assuming any of the risks.

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u/Nonetoobrightatall San Diego Padres 29d ago

Which is why he will be convicted and then pardoned by Orange Julius.

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u/mpyne 29d ago

Yeah, and Warren Buffett's annual shareholder letters often note that this was how his conglomerate got successful in the first place. His “secret sauce” was essentially reinvesting the insurance ‘float’ from his insurance company into other well-run companies, and using that to make tidy profits.

Profits that could be used to acquire other well-run companies, expand the insurance business (to grow the ‘float’), or other profit-making work where opportunities presented.

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u/CarolingianDruid 27d ago

That’s ridiculous. Not illegal to invest people’s premiums. So if your investments go tits up, people are just not covered. The corruption in this country is unbelievable.

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u/Allslopes-Roofing Cleveland Guardians 29d ago

Yeah but there's president (oops did i misspell that) for getting away with as many as 34 counts stemming from that exact thing so it's really just the American way. 🇺🇸

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u/jaunty411 Atlanta Braves Sep 04 '26

How would Magic end up in prison then? Is he part of Walter’s insurance company?

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u/LackOfAnotherName Sep 04 '26

Magic was the owner of Equitrust (a life insurance that Walter basically gave him, also the company that made him a billionaire) which is intertwined in this. Also Magic and Walter have been intertwined in this since the original Dodger purchase. It is an exaggeration to say he will end up in prison though

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u/Double-O World Series Trophy • Los Angeles Dod… Sep 05 '26

It's an exaggeration that anyone will end up in prison for this. Billionaires don't play by the same rules.

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u/Sniflix Colombia Sep 05 '26

Walter paid off Magic to join the offer to convince MLB to allow the sale to an unknown guy. Magic + Dodgers was s done deal and 2 years later Magic ends up owning an insurance company.

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u/FlavorSki Sep 05 '26

They can just pay prez for a pardon or probably him enough to call the DOJ off. Something tells me the Kushner offer for the lakers was 13 bil and a get out of jail free card.

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u/alawrence1523 New York Yankees Sep 05 '26

Look at Bernie Madoff.

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u/Double-O World Series Trophy • Los Angeles Dod… Sep 05 '26

He was arrested but his mistake was he defrauded other rich people. That's a big no no.

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u/LivingInDE2189 29d ago

Madoff did not only defraud rich people. He defrauders many regular people as well

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u/Double-O World Series Trophy • Los Angeles Dod… 29d ago

No way he gets the sentence he did if he just committed fraud against regular folk. Probably just a fine and maybe a light sentence if any at all.

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u/shwysdrf New York Mets Sep 05 '26

A lot has changed in this country since then

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u/Quality_Qontrol Los Angeles Angels Sep 05 '26

Especially with Trump’s DOJ, fraud isn’t a real crime for them because…well, they’re also committing fraud.

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u/ro536ud 29d ago

Well that would be bad for the economy since they trickle down so much moneys /s

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u/FinishFull 29d ago

We need Adam Silver in the DOJ.

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u/JuicyForcies 29d ago

First thing I thought too. Neither will go to prison… ever

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u/psychotichorse Los Angeles Dodgers • World Series … Sep 04 '26

He won’t lol. That wasn’t a conclusion. This is clickbait.

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u/bmtraven Baltimore Orioles Sep 04 '26

Yes + his friends. I’d recommend listening to the episode of PTFO to gain more information on it. It’s…not good for Magic.

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u/305-til-i-786 Sep 04 '26

He owned it 😂

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u/buckster_007 28d ago

Magic hit the baby hook shot against the Celts in the 1987 finals. He deserves to go to prison for that.

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u/Shenanigangster Los Angeles Dodgers • Jacksonvi… Sep 04 '26

More or less correct and that is allowed to a certain point- their issue is that they blew past that line and lied about it. But again that is more of a Dan Towriss/Group 1001 issue than a Walter/Magic issue. Presumably if they raise the cash to meet the SEC’s minimums they’ll be more or less ok.

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u/Realdeal43 Sep 04 '26

Thanks for the info. More or less.

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u/r1char00 Sep 05 '26

He’s trying to sell his stake in Cheslea Football Club right now, Boehly is too. I wonder if the investigations will impact it. Chelsea have had a lot of conflict between the owners and it seemed like it might be solved with Boehly especially selling.

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u/caseycubs098 Chicago Cubs Sep 05 '26

Its pretty much just the last part. The investments weren't inherently illegal just misreported.

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u/VisitPier26 28d ago

A) investing ordinary people's money is perfectly legal

B) Investing it in related parties and not disclosing it is a problem. That is what the government and multiple reporters are looking into.

This isn't Pablo's bombshell.

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u/stonedkayaker Philadelphia Phillies Sep 05 '26

Seems surprising that this government would be opposed to such activities.