U.S. prosecutors in Manhattan and the Securities and Exchange Commission are investigating potential financial improprieties at two insurance companies controlled by Mark Walter and at Guggenheim Partners. Walter, who owns the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Los Angeles Lakers, has not been accused of wrongdoing.
The insurers at the center, Delaware Life Insurance Co. and Clear Spring Life and Annuity Co., manage about $85 million from retirement annuities and life insurance while putting money into private loans. Delaware Life told regulators that only about 3% of its investments, roughly $1.4 billion, involved companies connected to Walter, but the figure was at least 39%, more than $17 billion.
February subpoenas
Both insurers received grand jury subpoenas in February, and the subpoenas stayed out of public view until the report. The FBI also executed at least one search warrant in September to seize a mobile phone. Prosecutors had previously looked at whether Guggenheim Partners was straight with outsiders about how much money it was making.
TWG Global response
TWG Global said it was "aware of and cooperating with the investigation," and Group 1001 said its "capital position and liquidity remain strong." Delaware Life is working on a plan to unwind those connections and tighten its bookkeeping, after S&P Global Ratings shifted its view of the company from steady to shaky.
The probes put the focus on how Walter built the fortune that bought the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Los Angeles Lakers, the WNBA's Sparks, pieces of Chelsea FC and the Cadillac Formula 1 team. The unanswered issue is whether the Manhattan inquiry and the SEC will lead to charges or enforcement actions against Walter, Guggenheim Partners or the insurers.
