Mark Walter's TWG Global hires Goldman veteran Markowitz as top lawyer amid probe of insurers

TWG Global has tapped veteran Goldman Sachs lawyer David Markowitz to be its chief legal officer, as federal investigators probe how two insurers that are part of TWG CEO Mark Walter‘s sprawling business empire classified loans to companies the billionaire controls.

Markowitz, while at Goldman, was a major player in the team that negotiated settlements worth billions of dollars to resolve the corruption scandal involving Goldman and its Malaysian subsidiary in connection with the Malaysian state-owned development company 1MDB. The scandal led to criminal and regulatory cases alleging Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations by the bank.

“We are pleased to welcome David to TWG Global,” Walter, who also owns the Los Angeles Dodgers, said in a statement Monday.

“His deep legal experience and proven leadership will be invaluable as we continue to strengthen the legal framework that supports our growth and allows us to execute on our long-term strategic priorities,” Walter said.

Walter has not been charged with wrongdoing in the insurance probe.

Bloomberg first reported Markowitz’s hiring by TWG, which is a holding company with interests in financial services, insurance, artificial intelligence and technology, and sports and media.

Markowitz’s hiring comes nearly two weeks after Walter shocked the sports world by agreeing to sell his controlling stake in the Los Angeles Lakers — which he acquired last September — to Joshua Kushner and Bob Iger in a deal that valued the basketball team at $12.5 billion.

That sale revived attention on the parallel investigations into Walter’s businesses by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The probes are focused in part on Delaware Life Insurance and its affiliate, Clear Spring Life and Annuity, two Group 1001 insurers ultimately controlled by Walter, and how they labeled about $20 billion in loans to companies that were part of Walter’s empire in regulatory filings.

The insurers reclassified billions of dollars of investments as affiliated or related-party transactions after receiving grand jury subpoenas and conducting internal reviews. Lending to affiliates is not illegal.

But Delaware Life, in a reclassification of its audited 2025 financials, said its affiliated investments stood at about 42% of invested assets, up from the 3% originally stated.

TWG last week announced it had agreed to exchange up to $6.5 billion of affiliated investments held by Delaware Life Insurance Company for an equal amount of non-affiliated assets.

“Under the agreement, TWG Global takes on investments tied to the performance of affiliated entities and the insurers receive assets that are independent of any affiliate,” TWG said in a statement.

Markowitz joined Goldman in 2011, and most recently was the bank’s global co-head of litigation and regulatory proceedings.

Before that, Markowitz spent eight years at the Securities and Exchange Commission’s enforcement division and later had senior roles in the New York Attorney General’s Office.

“I have long admired TWG Global’s unique position across some of the world’s most cutting-edge industries and its ambitious vision for transforming category-defining businesses and building enduring value,” Markowitz said in a statement.

“I look forward to working with the incredible leadership team and helping grow the company’s existing legal structure,” he said.

— CNBC’s Kasey O’Brien contributed to this article.