Before he joined the Lakers in 2018, a limited liability company controlled by former franchise superstar LeBron James borrowed almost $300 million from a couple of life insurers that were being advised by Guggenheim Partners, the California Post confirmed Tuesday.
Guggenheim Partners, to which former Lakers owner Mark Walter is the CEO, is under federal investigation over potential hidden, related-party transactions. It is widely believed that the federal scrutiny prompted Walter’s shocking sale of the Lakers after owning the team for less than a year.
Nothing indicates the loans to James are connected to those inquiries.
The securitization, which was first reported by Bloomberg, happened in 2017 while James with playing for the Cavaliers.
The deal was structured to provide immediate cash to James and “backed by a stream of future revenue tied to his earnings outside basketball” such as the lifetime partnership deal he secured with Nike in 2015.
There was a follow-on securitization in 2022 after James joined the Lakers.
The initial bond taken by James came with a 4.8% interest rate, and is not due back until 2049.
Four years later, Midwestern insurers (North American Company for Life and Health Insurance and Midland National Life Insurance Company) flushed LeBron’s LLC (King James Funding) with nearly $60 million worth of 34-year bonds at an even-higher 5.75% interest rate.
The two insurance companies were owned by Sammons Financial Group. Guggenheim was in charge of picking the assets for the firm’s portfolio until 2021, Bloomberg reported.
The initial securitization occurred before James joined the Lakers as a free agent in July 2018. And before Mark Walter, the CEO of Guggenheim, became a minority owner of the Lakers in July 2021.
James signed a two-year, $97.1 million contract extension with the Lakers in August 2022.
“The 2018 and 2022 transactions were a securitization done by Mr. James with his personal, non-NBA salary, assets and income which is a very common financial structure for an individual with this level of earnings and assets,” a James spokesperson said in a statement to the California Post.
“Both transactions were fully approved by the NBA. Mr. James has no affiliation with Guggenheim, Sammons Financial, North American Life or Midland National beyond their participation in these transactions.”
Guggenheim is also listed among the investors in SpringHill Co., a media venture started by James and business partner Maverick Carter.
Walter agreed to purchase the majority ownership of the Lakers from the Buss family in June 2025 for a then-record valuation of $10 billion.
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