Overview
- A Tuesday Bloomberg report found that King James Funding, an LLC controlled by LeBron James, raised almost $300 million in 2018 through private asset‑backed bonds purchased by two Midwestern insurers that were advised by a Guggenheim affiliate.
- The original securities were structured against James’s future non‑NBA income such as his lifetime Nike deal, carried a roughly 4.8% coupon and matured in 2049, and a follow‑on sale in August 2022 added about $60 million in longer‑dated bonds at about 5.75%.
- A James spokesperson said both transactions were independently credit‑rated, that the 2022 deal received NBA approval, and that James has no ownership or other affiliation with Guggenheim or the insurers beyond the financings.
- Federal and regulatory scrutiny of parts of Mark Walter’s insurance and private‑credit network has intensified, but reporting from Bloomberg and others says there is no reported evidence directly linking the James transactions to DOJ or SEC probes and the insurers that bought the bonds are not the same companies under investigation; about $245 million of the original issue remained with the insurers at the end of 2025.
- The financing follows a common athlete strategy of securitizing future endorsement and royalty income to get immediate cash, and the public disclosure could increase reputational and disclosure scrutiny of how insurers and adviser networks fund sports and media deals.