Chelsea co-owner Mark Walter has expressed an interest in selling his minority stake in the Premier League club as he faces a US legal investigation.
The American billionaire has reportedly encountered financial pressures that led him to sell his controlling interest in the Los Angeles Lakers basketball franchise for a record £9 billion ($12.5bn). The move comes less than a year after he purchased his majority stake in the NBA team.
Federal prosecutors at the US Attorney's Office are currently investigating how billions of dollars in loans extended to companies tied to Walter or his conglomerate, TWG Global, ended up on the accounting books of his insurance companies after passing through a third entity, according to the Wall Street Journal.
As part of the inquiry, federal agents from the FBI executed at least one search warrant to seize a mobile phone, Bloomberg reported.
In a statement delivered to the Financial Times, TWG Global said it is aware of and cooperating with the investigation. A person familiar with the matter told reporters that, beyond the Lakers sale, Walter has also expressed an interest in disposing of his holdings in English football club Chelsea.
Sale of the Los Angeles Lakers
Walter, 66, appears to have found buyers for the Lakers in investor Josh Kushner and former Disney chief executive Bob Iger, who swooped in at a convenient moment for the investor. The transaction is set to mark the highest price ever paid for any professional sports team.
Kushner is the brother of Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of US President Donald Trump. Walter had previously bought his share of the NBA franchise, which was reportedly worth an estimated £7.45 billion ($10bn), from the Buss family in October 2025 in what was then a record deal.
Following the agreement to sell the basketball team, Walter expressed pride in his tenure with the franchise. "Owning the Los Angeles Lakers has been one of the great honours of my life," Walter said in a statement. "It has been an extraordinary investment, but what I will carry with me is the community, the fans, and a city that treats this team as family."
Chelsea Ownership Structure
Walter originally became a co-owner of West London club Chelsea in 2022 as part of the BlueCo investment consortium led by businessman Todd Boehly and private equity firm Clearlake Capital.
Under the consortium arrangement, Walter and Boehly each hold a 12.8 per cent minority stake in BlueCo, which owns Chelsea. Behdad Eghbali, the co-founder of Clearlake Capital, holds the controlling majority share of 61.5 per cent in the consortium.
The BlueCo group acquired Chelsea following the end of Roman Abramovich's ownership era, establishing Stamford Bridge as the flagship venue of a wider multi-club structure. As part of that strategy, BlueCo also owns French Ligue 1 side Strasbourg, giving the group a footprint in European football.
Walter's Sports Portfolio
Walter established his wealth in financial services as one of the founders of bond manager and investment bank Guggenheim Partners in 1999. Headquartered in New York and Chicago, the firm grew into a major global financial services business.
Beyond his stakes in Chelsea, Strasbourg and the Lakers, Walter maintains extensive investments across professional sports. He owns a stake in Major League Baseball team the Los Angeles Dodgers, serves as the majority owner of WNBA team the Los Angeles Sparks, and owns North America's top-level professional women's ice hockey league.
Kushner and FIFA Links
The acquisition of the Lakers by Kushner comes after the venture capitalist was involved in a high-profile controversy surrounding FIFA president Gianni Infantino. Kushner was linked to an aborted proposal that sought to sell off commercial stakes in competitions organized by football's global governing body to private investors.
Thrive Eternal, an American venture capital firm founded by Kushner, was expected to lead the proposed investor group for the FIFA Forward Enterprise initiative before the plan was ultimately dropped.
