The Los Angeles Dodgers have become baseball’s villain in the minds of opposing fans, thanks to their criminal dedication to trying to win more games. And if there’s one thing fans won’t tolerate, it’s trying to win more games instead of putting profits first.
But fans who have that view were handed an enormous gift recently when news broke that the team’s principal owner, Mark Walter, was under investigation by the federal government. Walter is alleged to have used investment funds to make loans directly to other businesses. Some of which were also part of Walter’s portfolio of businesses.
That’s not illegal, but there are specific requirements for disclosure and investor exposure for such private-credit deals, and it’s again alleged that Walter’s organizations did not accurately describe the scale and scope of those loans. The scale of these loans is such that it’s believed Walter may be looking to bring in $16 billion to $20 billion in order to fully settle them.
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The assumption of many in the anti-Dodgers baseball fan community quickly turned to an unsubstantiated belief that the team’s high payroll was supported by loan fraud. That their deferred contracts were to allow Walter to skate by without paying for star players. And that the World Series wins deserved some sort of asterisk, for an inexplicable reason.
Well, Walter’s company, TWG Global addressed those comments and concerns in a new statement this week, flatly denying the rampant conspiracy theories.
“Over the past several weeks, multipronged attacks against TWG have been advanced by unnamed sources with self-serving interests that have been reported in the media. It is important to set the record straight,” it said. “TWG stands firmly behind the integrity of its business and remains focused on continuing to deliver value to its stakeholders.”
More specifically, the statement says that “despite what has been reported, there has been no fraud.”
“There is no victim here. No one has been harmed, and no one has claimed they were harmed,” the statement says. “TWG is committed to working with the U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission to resolve their inquiries.”
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With regard to the Dodgers, TWG was even more direct.
“The Dodgers have the highest revenue in baseball,” they added, “and it significantly exceeds the team’s obligations to its players.”
That’s always been obvious. The Dodgers reportedly became the first baseball team to generate over a billion dollars in revenue in a single season. At least a billion. Even including luxury tax penalties and player payroll, they’re spending roughly 55% of that income. Not to mention the biggest question; if Walter was committed to using insurance company loan stop make himself richer through the Dodgers, why would he not just pocket that extra income instead of spending more money on players?
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He’s committed to fraud, but he’s willing to sacrifice, say, an extra $100 million to $150 million a year in income just to try to win?
As for Walter selling the Los Angeles Lakers, the company explained that he was “approached” by the eventual buyers, and that the sale was made out of opportunity, not necessity.
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None of this will matter to those who have made their minds up, but it’s yet another example of how the rush to find a villain can create false, inaccurate narratives that don’t hold up to scrutiny.
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