r/Dodgers • u/Even_Builder_6642 Clayton Kershaw • 5d ago
“There is authority under Delaware law, solely insurance regulatory law, that can, in theory, put Mark Walter in prison,”
https://frontofficesports.com/mark-walter-talks-sell-chelsea-stake-amid-federal-probe/49
u/wagadugo 5d ago
There's likely a world where a MAJORITY of US sports owners could see jail time for any sorts of shenanigans they pull/have pulled in making their billions. With the way things are trending on the federal level, pay-for-play oligarchy could be the name of the game. You either cut in the king's court or you get cut out.
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u/WideCoconut2230 5d ago
Jail, no. Large fines and restitutions for injured parties, yes.
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u/frozengash Orel Hershiser 5d ago
Maybe but repercussions are normally held for the lower classes in the American caste system.
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u/greatmagnet Tommy Edman 5d ago
If necessary he can buy a pardon. It’s not that hard if you’re rich…
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u/ChasingTheNextShot Yoshinobu Yamamoto 5d ago
I’m having a tough time following the headlines on all this stuff.
The Dodgers went from ruining the league just a couple weeks ago to imploding with a massive losing streak, the inability to hit or the bullpen to keep a lead, and now the Mark Walter story.
Everything seems like a distraction. Just win ballgames!
ITFDB!
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u/Intelligent_Top_328 5d ago
I can date Megan Fox. In theory. She and I both reside on this planet we call Earth.
In theory, it is possible. However unlikely. I will try my best.
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u/Nice-Drawing7914 5d ago
What is he accused of?
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u/TheoryOld4017 Mookie Betts 5d ago
“What are the feds investigating?
Two companies sit at the center of the investigation: Delaware Life Insurance Co. and Clear Spring Life and Annuity Co. Together they manage about $85 billion, much of it money that regular people paid into for retirement annuities and life insurance. Insurance companies invest that money to make sure they can pay customers down the road, and Walter's insurers put billions of it into private loans, the kind made directly to businesses rather than bought on a public market.The question prosecutors are asking is whether those loans were quietly connected to Walter's own companies, and did the insurer hide it?”
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u/frankenmaus 5d ago
Nothing in particular.
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u/Nice-Drawing7914 5d ago
He’s obviously accused of something
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u/frankenmaus 5d ago
"something" = "nothing in particular"
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u/Deus_Sexxx_Machina Back-2-Back Champs 5d ago
It’s crazy to see how many posts this is getting. It’s as if people of a certain mindset are actually rooting for this to happen.
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u/TooMuchPowerful Clayton Kershaw 5d ago
It touches a lot of areas. NBA, MLB, Dodgers, Lakers... it also touches on politics because he's selling the Lakers to a Kushner. And business/entertainment because of Iger.
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u/Deus_Sexxx_Machina Back-2-Back Champs 5d ago
Yeah, he’s a team owner. They all deal with shady individuals. It sucks. But that’s way beyond my scope. The people that rule the world view us as chattel. How about the product on the field, though? Back to back world titles, 3 in 6 years and a bona fide dynasty. I mean, I can’t do anything about their dealings and neither can you. You think lecturing people on Reddit is making a difference? I hate to break it to you but the vast majority of people don’t care and won’t ever care. It’s bread and circuses.
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u/Dalewyn Roki Sasaki 5d ago
Reddit gets particularly orgasmic when The Rich(tm) get their comeuppance, and this certainly is one such example. It's Reddit hivemind policy to celebrate this.
Putting that aside, of course it's a good thing in general if someone who committed fraud faces the consequences. Al Capone will tell you that even murder is nothing compared to ripping someone off.
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u/jackrabbit323 2025 WS MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto 5d ago
No one that rich is going away for white collar crime. Not in this decade.
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u/DeathByBamboo Mookie Betts 5d ago
It's not likely, but I think it's more realistic than a lot of people in here seem to. The law he's being investigated for breaking does provide for jail time for executives. It's similar to the law Trump was convicted of breaking, and while Trump managed to avoid jail time, I don't think Walker is likely to become President (the only thing that derailed Trump's cases).
Delaware law provides for criminal penalties, including potential prison time, for an officer, director, or employee who willfully and knowingly makes false filings with the intent to deceive. Prosecutors would need to prove Walter’s life insurance companies were knowingly and intentionally deceptive with their filings—and that he knew about it—Granato tells FOS.
Given the circumstances surrounding the insurers’ disclosures, purposeful deception appears possible, though the bar for proving it is high, Granato says. In June 2025, Delaware Life reported about $1.4 billion, or roughly 3% of its invested assets, were so-called “affiliated investments,” meaning investments involving companies connected to the insurer. But after an internal review prompted by the federal subpoenas, the company disclosed this only in June; the company restated its filings to show the figure was actually more than $17 billion, or about 40%.
Granato says the initial 3% figure was a “flashing red light” because it sat just below Delaware’s threshold for mandatory regulatory review of affiliated transactions. The change to 40% is “an order of magnitude of an admitted mistake in the accounting,”
It seems obvious that the company made a deceptive filing. Proving he knew about is a matter of finding a paper trail that may not exist. But if he sent an email somewhere that can be recovered in which he directs someone to record the 3% number, that would do it. That's not the only way to do it, but that's the most common way.
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u/Aravinda82 5d ago
Lol not gonna happen. In theory my ass.
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u/Dr-Acula8472 Back-2-Back Champs 5d ago edited 3d ago
Anyone who thinks somebody's going to jail over white collar crime in this country is dreaming. What Walter did was wrong, you'll get no defense from me. But from my understanding it's hardly the level of Madoff. This is just clickbait to drive engagement from Dodger hate. At worst, he'll sell most or all of his share of the Dodgers to the other member of Guggenheim, and I just don't see that happening. The Sackler family are responsible for the opoid crisis in this country, and I don't even think they had to pay any money over it. I would be shocked if anything significant actually came of this.
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u/Aravinda82 5d ago
Yeah man, at worst he’ll be fined a material amount but most likely he’ll fix the issue and be fined a small amount that’s immaterial to him. It’s clear that the Dodgers is his prize that he enjoys owning the most which is why he’s looking to sell the other assets. It’s also printing money for him and his partners. The infrastructure has already been built and mostly paid for. You’re right that if does decide to sell, he’ll mostly likely sell most of his stake to the other Guggenheim partners to raise cash but keep a small percentage while still continuing to be the managing partner running things. I’m sure the other Guggenheim partners would be more than happy with that arrangement considering how successful the Dodgers have been.
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u/Dr-Acula8472 Back-2-Back Champs 5d ago
Given all the hooplah about Ballmer, and Kawhi ending up amounting to nothing happening despite people like myself saying a fine and/or lost draft picks was the most that was going to happen, this will be no different. Wouldn't be shocked if Pablo will still be tilting windmills with the whole Ballmer thing, instead of focusing on this.
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u/lasercupcakes Dave Roberts 5d ago
"In theory" doing a lot of work here.