Lakers sold for $12.5 billion 10 months in, with Mark Walter under federal loan-fraud investigation

A Lakers site reports the sale to Bob Iger and Josh Kushner came together in three days, and that paying down loans under FBI scrutiny may have been part of the reason. The primary paperwork is not yet public.

The Los Angeles Lakers were sold to Bob Iger and Josh Kushner for $12.5 billion on Wednesday, August 12, 2026, according to the Lakers site Silver Screen and Roll. The seller, Mark Walter, is under investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for loan fraud, the site reported in the same piece. Walter had officially owned the franchise for less than 10 months when he sold it.

What the report says about the investigation

The FBI inquiry began in 2025 and examined Walter's finances, the valuation of his investment group, and whether loans he had taken out were properly disclosed, Silver Screen and Roll reported. The site said the sale of the Lakers came at the same time as that investigation, and pointed to a Bloomberg report that using sale proceeds to pay down those loans may have been part of Walter's rationale. Silver Screen and Roll characterized the Bloomberg reporting rather than quoting it.

To explain the accounting question at issue, Silver Screen and Roll cited the Los Angeles Times, which interviewed forensic accountant Bruce Dubinsky, described by the paper as having worked on the Enron and Madoff cases. Dubinsky's analogy, as quoted by the Los Angeles Times, was about selling a car to a stranger versus selling it to a relative.

"That's why, from an audit standpoint, there should be more scrutiny if you're doing business with the left hand and the right hand, because it's easier to manipulate things. Repayments can be delayed indefinitely. They are always more suspect to fraud."

Two accounts of how the deal happened

Bob Iger told the California Post's Khobi Price that he and Josh Kushner learned Walter might be open to selling while they were pursuing a prospective NBA franchise in Las Vegas, in a quote reproduced by Silver Screen and Roll.

"We were involved in pursuing the new franchise in Vegas. And while that happened, it was suggested to us that maybe Mark Walter would be interested in selling his stake in the Lakers. And we immediately decided that given the value of the franchise and the iconic nature of the team, that we would be really smart to pursue it. The deal came together in three days. It's that simple."

A separate account, credited by Silver Screen and Roll to Dan Woike, Sam Amick and Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic, holds that Walter was not necessarily looking to sell and that the offer was simply too good to pass up. The Athletic reporting, as quoted by Silver Screen and Roll, put the shift in the team's valuation at $10 billion to $12.5 billion over 14 months. Silver Screen and Roll calculated Walter's gain at $2.5 billion over roughly 10 months of ownership.

What is not in the record yet

The connection between the sale and the loans remains inference. Silver Screen and Roll said as much, writing that Walter's side is unlikely to leak anything while a federal investigation is open, and labeling parts of its own read of the situation as speculation.

No loan filing, subpoena or court document appears in the material reviewed here. Neither does an approval notice from the NBA Board of Governors, which would normally have to sign off on a transfer of control. The material also says nothing about the team's arena obligations in downtown Los Angeles.

On the one governance question the material does address, Silver Screen and Roll published a separate item on August 12, 2026, under the headline that Bob Iger says new ownership will honor an agreement to keep Jeanie Buss as governor. The site described the intention as Buss remaining in the role. The underlying agreement itself has not been published.