The denial itself is the news.
“This has nothing to do with President Trump or his administration,” a White House spokesperson told Front Office Sports.
Kushner’s Thrive Capital added its own short denial to the same outlet.
“This is false,” a spokesperson for the venture capital firm said.
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Kushner has never worked for the Trump administration and describes himself as a lifelong Democrat.
The federal probe of Mark Walter
Walter agreed to sell to Kushner and former Disney chief executive Bob Iger less than 14 months after buying the Lakers, in a deal that hands him a paper profit of roughly $2.5 billion. Iger and Kushner first approached him on Sunday, August 9, and terms were agreed on Wednesday, August 12.
The timing is what has drawn scrutiny. The Manhattan US Attorney’s Office and the Securities and Exchange Commission have been examining how roughly $16 billion in loans moved between insurance companies Walter controls, Delaware Life and Clear Spring Life and Annuity, and other entities inside his TWG Global conglomerate. The FBI seized Walter’s phone and computer in September 2025, Forbes reported. No charges have been filed, and no reporting has linked the Lakers, the Los Angeles Dodgers or any other Walter-owned sports asset to the investigation.
Commentators seized on the overlap. Sportswriter Joe Pompliano called it “weird that a guy…would sell the team for a 20% gain…at the same time he is being investigated for fraud.” Podcaster Pablo Torre wrote that “the Mark Walter federal investigation colliding with Gianni Infantino’s preferred private-equity backers is…a lot.”
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The FIFA collapse behind the Lakers deal
Only weeks earlier, Kushner’s Thrive Eternal fund had been lined up as the anchor investor in FIFA Forward Enterprise, a private vehicle that would have sold up to a 20% stake in the commercial rights to the World Cup. UEFA announced that its 55 member associations would boycott future FIFA events over the plan, CONCACAF and the Asian Football Confederation rejected it, and Infantino confirmed the proposal would not proceed.
Trump publicly defended Infantino as the revolt built. On Truth Social on Monday, August 10, he wrote that “FIFA would be making a terrible mistake if, for any reason, they even considered replacing President Gianni Infantino,” praising him for presiding over “the most successful World Cup, by four times, ever presented.”
UEFA, CONCACAF and the AFC have called for a change in FIFA leadership, though confederations do not control how their member associations vote at the 211-member FIFA Congress, where each association casts its own ballot.
The NBA board still has to vote
The transaction has to clear the NBA Board of Governors before Kushner and Iger take control. Walter’s federal investigations remain open and are unaffected by the sale.
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