Dodgers owner Mark Walter named in fraud lawsuit

Key Points:

• Dodgers owner Mark Walter has been named in a class-action lawsuit filed by a Florida-based client of his insurance company Delaware Life, alleging negligent misrepresentation, breach of contract, and aiding and abetting fraud related to undisclosed loans to Walter-owned businesses.
• The lawsuit, filed in Miami federal court by law firm Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd on behalf of plaintiff Ira Rosner, also names Walter’s Guggenheim Partners investment firm as defendants.
• Walter has been under federal investigation since last year by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and the SEC following a whistleblower complaint about misrepresented loans within his business portfolio, with grand jury subpoenas served to his insurance companies and FBI seizures of his devices.
• Walter’s holding company, TWG Global, denies any wrongdoing, and while Walter has sold stakes in the Lakers and Chelsea Football Club, Dodgers officials say he has no plans to sell the baseball team.
• The lawsuit accuses Walter and his companies of systematically concealing insurer asset allocations and hiding the grand jury subpoena from investors, with Group 1001, Delaware Life’s parent company, stating it plans to vigorously defend the case.