Dodgers owner Mark Walter denies reports, says team payroll is supported by revenue: 'There has been no fraud'

That's not illegal, but there are specific requirements for disclosure and investor exposure for such private-credit deals, and it's again alleged that Walter's organizations did not accurately describe the scale and scope of those loans. The scale of these loans is such that it's believed Walter may be looking to bring in $16 billion to $20 billion in order to fully settle them.

The assumption of many in the anti-Dodgers baseball fan community quickly turned to an unsubstantiated belief that the team's high payroll was supported by loan fraud. That their deferred contracts were to allow Walter to skate by without paying for star players. And that the World Series wins deserved some sort of asterisk, for an inexplicable reason.

"Over the past several weeks, multipronged attacks against TWG have been advanced by unnamed sources with self-serving interests that have been reported in the media. It is important to set the record straight," it said. "TWG stands firmly behind the integrity of its business and remains focused on continuing to deliver value to its stakeholders."

More specifically, the statement says that "despite what has been reported, there has been no fraud."

"There is no victim here. No one has been harmed, and no one has claimed they were harmed," the statement says. "TWG is committed to working with the U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission to resolve their inquiries."

"The Dodgers have the highest revenue in baseball," they added, "and it significantly exceeds the team's obligations to its players."

That's always been obvious. The Dodgers reportedly became the first baseball team to generate over a billion dollars in revenue in a single season. At least a billion. Even including luxury tax penalties and player payroll, they're spending roughly 55% of that income. Not to mention the biggest question; if Walter was committed to using insurance company loan stop make himself richer through the Dodgers, why would he not just pocket that extra income instead of spending more money on players?

He's committed to fraud, but he's willing to sacrifice, say, an extra $100 million to $150 million a year in income just to try to win?

None of this will matter to those who have made their minds up, but it's yet another example of how the rush to find a villain can create false, inaccurate narratives that don't hold up to scrutiny.