Malibu billionaire couple joins Bob Iger to buy the Lakers Play

A Malibu billionaire couple is buying the Los Angeles Lakers, subject to approval by the NBA owners.

Former ABC boss Bob Iger is joining investment banker Josh Kushner and his wife, Karlie Kloss, in purchasing the Lakers for $12.5 billion.

Kushner and Kloss live in the Wave House, an architectural monument on the beach west of Encinal Canyon Road. They purchased the house a year ago for $29.5 million, according to the Wall Street Journal.

It’s a controversial sale. The buyer is the brother of Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner. The seller, Mark Walter, is under investigation by both federal prosecutors and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Walter, a fellow billionaire, may have engaged in financial misrepresentation when he bought the Lakers 14 months ago at a then-record $10 billion valuation.

Walter’s company was the one that tried to buy a portion of the FIFA World Cup, which collapsed less than two weeks ago. That one involved a different Trump ally, FIFA president Gianni Infantino, the guy who gave Trump a fake FIFA World Peace Prize.

As Forbes magazine reports this morning, all this is not a coincidence. One sports business analyst says he wouldn’t say he is a conspiracy theorist.

“But it does seem weird that a guy who owns multiple sports teams, who was in the middle of rebuilding the Lakers’ entire business operation, would sell the team for a 20 percent gain in 2 years, at the same time he is being investigated for fraud.”

A White House spokesperson told Front Office Sports the sale “has nothing to do with President Trump or his administration.”

As for Joshua Kushner, he lives in Malibu and New York. Forbes magazine places his net worth at an estimated $5.2 billion. His older brother, Jared, is married to President Trump’s daughter. His father Charles is the U.S. ambassador to France, and has successfully staked out his own lucrative business career.

He has been investing in sports teams. Last spring his company acquired a minority, non-controlling ownership stake in the San Francisco Giants. He is described as a lifelong Democrat.

For Malibu, this means a second hometown billionaire owns a major L.A. sports franchise. The L.A. Rams football team is owned by Malibu local Stan Kroenke.