- US prosecutors are investigating Delaware Life and Clear Spring over whether they properly disclosed private credit investments tied to Mark Walter-controlled businesses.
- Delaware Life corrected its related-party investment exposure from about $1.4 bn, or 3% of investments, to more than $17 bn, or at least 39% of total invested assets.
- The case raises broader questions for life insurers using private credit, especially around related-party transactions, governance, valuation and disclosure controls.
US prosecutors are investigating two life insurers controlled by Mark Walter, the owner of the Dodgers and Lakers, over disclosures tied to private credit investments across his business network, according to Bloomberg.
Delaware Life Insurance and Clear Spring Life and Annuity, both owned by Group 1001, received grand jury subpoenas in February. The companies disclosed the subpoenas in June 26 regulatory filings.
Prosecutors in Manhattan are examining whether the insurers failed to disclose private credit holdings backing other Walter-controlled ventures.
The investigation runs alongside a US Securities and Exchange Commission review. The subpoenas followed an earlier inquiry opened last year into the $362 bn asset management arm of Guggenheim Partners, where Walter serves as chief executive.
The FBI executed at least one search warrant in September and seized a mobile phone, though Bloomberg said the filings didn’t make clear which part of the investigation involved the device.
Walter controls the insurers and holds a stake in Guggenheim through TWG Global, his holding company. TWG also owns stakes in the Dodgers, the Lakers, the WNBA’s Sparks and Premier League club Chelsea. It also serves as the primary financier of the Professional Women’s Hockey League.
TWG said it “is aware of and cooperating with the investigation.” Group 1001 said it is also cooperating with investigators and said its capital position and liquidity remain strong.
No prosecutors have filed charges against Walter or any of the companies. Investigations of this type sometimes close without enforcement action.
The subpoenas pushed Delaware Life and Clear Spring to begin internal reviews. Those reviews found what the companies described as errors in earlier financial reporting.
The correction was large. Delaware Life had previously told regulators that related-party investments tied to Walter’s other businesses accounted for roughly 3% of its portfolio, or about $1.4 bn.
The corrected figure exceeded $17 bn, or at least 39% of total invested assets, as of the most recent year-end. An earlier related-party figure, dated December 2024, exceeded $11 bn.
Delaware Life has started a remediation plan to lower exposure to affiliated investments and strengthen financial controls.
The investigation places related-party disclosure controls at the center of the matter, not the insurers’ claims-paying ability. According to Group 1001, capital and liquidity remain strong. Regulators and prosecutors are looking at whether investors, policyholders and supervisors received a full view of affiliated private credit exposure inside the insurers’ portfolios.
Insurers use long-duration investments to back annuity and life liabilities, and affiliated asset managers have pushed deeper into structured credit, loans and other privately negotiated assets.
The structure works when governance, valuation and disclosure stay tight. It gets messy when related parties sit on both sides of a transaction.
According to Bloomberg, prosecutors are examining whether Delaware Life and Clear Spring disclosed enough about investments connected to Walter’s wider business interests.
The filings do show the companies changed prior related-party investment figures by several bn dollars after the subpoenas arrived.
