Lakers sold for $12 billion to Bob Iger and Josh Kushner with former owner under federal investigation

The Los Angeles Lakers were sold to Mark Walter for $10 billion in June of 2025. Now the Lakers have been sold again one year later for $12 billion.

Former Disney CEO Bob Iger and businessman Josh Kushner purchased the franchise on Wednesday, according to ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne. Iger and Kushner had been trying to purchase the NBA’s incoming expansion team in Las Vegas, but instead landed the premier franchise in the NBA by offering Walter an extra $2 billion from his purchase last year.

Iger is 75 years old, and stepped down as Disney’s CEO earlier this year. Kushner is 41 years old, and the brother of Jared Kushner, a former Senior Advisor to the President in Donald Trump’s first term, and also the husband of his daughter Ivanka Trump.

The Lakers were owned by the Buss family for 46 years before Walter purchased the team in 2025. After Jerry Buss passed away in 2013, his daughter Jeanie Buss was the team governor before the sale.

Walter, who still owns MLB’s Los Angeles Dodgers, is currently the subject of a federal investigation for alleged loan fraud tied to his insurance empire. The U.S. Attorney’s Office is investigating $16 billion in potentially fraudulent loans after an internal whistleblower tipped off authorities that two life insurance companies owned by Walter were made to companies tied to him without being disclosed as a “related transaction.” The Wall Street Journal has a full deep dive into the probe.

Walter and Magic Johnson currently own the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks, as well. The Sparks are reportedly not part of this sale.

The sale came together in the matter of only a few days, according to Shelburne, which is incredibly bizarre for an agreement of this magnitude.

Kushner has a checkered past as a businessman. In 2021, Kushner’s apartment company was to have violated numerous consumer protection laws by misrepresenting the condition of his units and charging tenants unlawful fees.

Kushner is also listed as a minority owner of the Miami Heat. He’ll have to sell his shares of the Heat if he hasn’t already for this Lakers purchase to become official.

We’ll update this story as it develops.