In November 2000, a Russian oil company made an unusual move into the American market. Lukoil paid $71 million for Getty Petroleum Marketing, putting thousands of gas stations across the United States under the ownership of one of Russia’s biggest energy companies.

More than two decades later, Lukoil’s international story has taken a very different turn. Its foreign assets are now at the center of a multibillion-dollar sale, with American investors among those looking to take control.

Todd Boehly, one of the Lakers’ minority owners, is leading a consortium bidding for Lukoil’s international assets in a deal reportedly worth between $20 billion and $22 billion. The transaction is still being negotiated and faces major regulatory hurdles. As OFAC Director Bradley T. Smith stated, “This general license does not authorize… the transfer of funds to any person or account located in the Russian Federation.”

That is what makes this more than a normal business transaction. Boehly is not bidding to buy Lukoil’s entire Russian operation. His group is targeting the company’s international portfolio, which includes more than 3 billion barrels of proved and probable oil and gas reserves, major European refineries and thousands of gas stations across Europe, along with fuel distribution assets in the northeastern United States.

The consortium itself is also unusual. Boehly is operating through Eldridge Industries and related investment vehicles, while the group includes backing from the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, UAE investor Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan and the Qatari Al-Khayyat family. HSBC has also been retained to arrange financing for the bids.

For Lakers fans, however, Boehly’s involvement gives the story an entirely different angle.

Boehly remains a minority limited partner in the Lakers, with his interest tied to the 27% stake he and Mark Walter acquired from Philip Anschutz in 2021. Walter later acquired a 64% controlling stake at a $10 billion valuation, while Boehly remained a minority partner.

That controlling stake is now at the center of a $12.5 billion sale to a group led by Joshua Kushner and former Disney CEO Bob Iger. If completed, the transaction would give the Lakers the highest sports franchise valuation in history, surpassing the $6.05 billion Washington Commanders sale from 2023.

But the people surrounding the two deals are what make the latest development especially interesting.

On September 5, 2026, Jared Kushner and U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff met with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin. According to The New York Times, Putin raised the proposed Lukoil transaction during that meeting and presented the sale as a possible way to show that Russian and American businesses could eventually resume working together.

Jared Kushner’s younger brother, Joshua Kushner, is meanwhile leading the group seeking control of the Lakers.

There is an important distinction here: the two transactions are separate.

There is no reported financial connection between Jared Kushner’s involvement in the Lukoil discussions and Joshua Kushner’s Lakers purchase. Jared has no reported equity interest in Boehly’s consortium, while Joshua has no reported stake or advisory role in the Lukoil transaction.

Still, the overlap puts a familiar Lakers name in the middle of a much bigger international business story.

The Lakers’ ownership story also cannot be separated entirely from the circumstances surrounding Walter’s departure.

On July 21, 2026, The Wall Street Journal reported that federal prosecutors and the SEC were investigating Walter and businesses connected to his insurance holdings.

The chronology is important. The FBI had already seized Walter’s phone and laptop from his private aircraft at Chicago Midway Airport in September 2025, months before the Wall Street Journal’s July 2026 report and before the Lakers sale was announced.

Grand jury subpoenas were also served on Delaware Life and Clear Spring Life in February 2026 concerning billions of dollars in related-party loans. According to the research, regulators were examining the relationship between Walter’s insurance businesses and affiliated investments.

The legal situation later moved into federal civil court.

On September 16, 2026, Ira Rosner filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida against Delaware Life Insurance Company, Group 1001 Insurance Holdings, TWG Global, Guggenheim Partners and Walter. The complaint alleges fraudulent concealment, breach of contract, negligent misrepresentation and other claims involving the insurer’s reported exposure to affiliated transactions.

Those remain allegations. Walter has not been criminally charged, and neither a court nor regulator has issued a finding that he committed criminal wrongdoing.

The numbers involved, however, help explain the financial pressure surrounding Walter’s businesses.

According to the lawsuit and related reporting, Delaware Life had previously reported roughly 3% of its invested assets as being tied to related parties. Later disclosures put the figure at approximately $16.37 billion, or around 39% to 42% of the company’s total assets.

TWG Global subsequently agreed to replace as much as $6.5 billion in affiliated loans with independent investments as part of a corrective plan aimed at addressing regulatory concerns.

That created a significant liquidity need across Walter’s financial empire, with the Lakers becoming one of the assets capable of producing a huge amount of capital.

The negotiations with Joshua Kushner reportedly moved at remarkable speed. Kushner approached Walter in August, and the agreement was reached within 72 hours.

Yet even that deal is not finished.

The $12.5 billion transaction remains subject to NBA Board of Governors approval, while the Buss family’s remaining stake has created another complication.

When Walter acquired control in 2025, the Buss family retained a collective 17.82% minority stake through family trust structures. Five of the six Buss siblings moved to sell that stake to the Kushner-led group, but Jeanie Buss challenged the transaction.

Her challenge centers on the family’s trust agreements and whether the stake can be sold without unanimous consent. According to the research, she needs to maintain a linked family stake of at least 15% to preserve her executive authority and role as the Lakers’ representative governor.

That means the record-setting sale still has another obstacle to clear before the Lakers’ ownership structure can fully change.

Boehly’s Lukoil deal has its own deadline.

OFAC’s General License 131J allows potential buyers to negotiate and enter certain contingent agreements involving Lukoil International GmbH, but it does not authorize the final transfer of the assets or funds. The license is set to expire on October 22, 2026, unless it is extended.

So while the two transactions are not financially connected, both remain unfinished.

Boehly is trying to complete a $20 billion-plus acquisition of Lukoil’s international assets while navigating U.S. regulatory restrictions. The Lakers, meanwhile, are waiting for NBA approval of a $12.5 billion change in control while the Buss family dispute remains unresolved.

For a franchise that has spent decades at the center of some of the biggest deals in sports, 2026 has produced an especially unusual chapter. And with both blockbuster transactions still waiting for their final pieces to fall into place, the Lakers’ ownership story is not over yet.