Ex-Railriders ownership group faces huge state tax lien

Borys Krawczeniuk, The Times-Tribune, Scranton, Pa.
Updated ·2 min read

Aug. 21—The company that co-owned the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders owes almost $350,000 in state taxes, penalties and interest, according to a lien.

The state Department of Revenue filed a $341,690.36 lien on Aug. 15 against SWB Investor LLC with an address of PNC Field, 235 Montage Mountain Road, Moosic, the location of the stadium where the RailRiders play minor league baseball. The lien is for all of 2021.

The unpaid taxes alone total $217,404.

It is unclear what taxes are owed. The lien document identifies the tax owed only as "pass-through entity." Under state law, a partnership or other pass-through entity that includes partners who don't live in Pennsylvania must "withhold and pay Pennsylvania personal income tax on each owner's expected share of distributable Pennsylvania-source taxable income," according to the Department of Revenue. Many of the partners in SWB Investor LLC lived outside Pennsylvania.

SWB Investor bought half ownership from Mandalay Baseball Properties LLC in 2014. The New York Yankees Major League Baseball team owned the other half. The RailRiders remain the Yankees' Triple-A Minor League Baseball affiliate.

In December 2021, the Yankees and SWB Investor sold their shares entirely to Endeavor, a global sports and entertainment company for an undisclosed amount. Endeavor created a separate company to own the RailRiders and other minor league baseball teams called Diamond Baseball Holdings.

Last August, Endeavor announced the sale of Diamond Baseball and its 10 teams, including the Railriders, to Silver Lake, a global technology investment firm. Silver Lake lists Diamond Baseball as one of its assets on its website.

Attempts to reach David Abrams, the managing partner of SWB Investors, were unsuccessful.

RailRiders General Manager Katie Beekman said the team does not know anything about the lien and team officials are not in contact with the former owners.

Contact the writer:

bkrawczeniuk@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9147;

@BorysBlogTT on Twitter.