PHOENIX (AP) — It's well-known at this point that billionaire Mat Ishbia's mortgage company has had a rough financial stretch.
The owner of the Phoenix Suns said Monday that will have “zero” effect on his spending habits when it comes to basketball. In fact, the 46-year-old said he's working on purchasing 14% more of the team, bringing his total to roughly 80%.
Ishbia's company — United Wholesale Mortgage — suffered a reported $450 million net loss in the second quarter this year, calling into question if the sizable dip would affect his basketball business. The outspoken Ishbia was adamant that nothing would change for the NBA franchise when it comes to spending on players or the fan experience.
“How does it affect the Phoenix Suns when (the mortgage company has) a bad month, or a bad quarter, or a bad year, or a bad three years?” Ishbia said. “It affects zero. Absolutely zero. It's got nothing to do with anything."
Ishbia added that UWM still employs 9,000 people and is in a fine position going forward. He bought the Suns and the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury in 2022 for $4 billion and has quickly developed a reputation for spending money.
“We had a bad quarter,” Ishbia said of UWM. “People like to create stories out of thin air and create a bunch of negativity. When we have a great quarter this quarter I don't think I'll see all the articles. But anyway, it's part of my life and part of what it is. The mortgage company's doing great — not that anyone really cares.”
The Suns are coming off a 45-37 season and return most of the team, including star guard Devin Booker, forward Dillon Brooks and guard Jalen Green.
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FILE - Phoenix Mercury and Phoenix Suns owner Mat Ishbia honors retired WNBA Phoenix Mercury basketball player Diana Taurasi during a halftime Ring of Honor ceremony on Aug. 16, 2026, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is revoking the visas of 27 Latin American officials, former officials and their families, including Bolivia’s attorney general, over accusations of corruption.
The officials and their families come from Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru — all nations with right-leaning leaders friendly with President Donald Trump. Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited Colombia, Ecuador and Peru this month, pledging U.S. support for their efforts to combat drug and human trafficking.
Those leaders have complained that many of those targeted by the visa revocations were hindering their efforts to fight crime.
The State Department announced the revocations Monday, saying they were being done “to fulfill the commitments to defend democratic governance across our hemisphere against corruption and narco-trafficking.”
“Undermining a democratically-elected government is a threat to security and rule of law in the Americas and will not be tolerated,” it said in a statement.
The Trump administration is billing the revocations as part of its broader efforts to clamp down on corruption, particularly related to the narcotics trade and illegal migration, by members of the U.S.-led “Shield of the Americas” bloc in the Western Hemipshere that Trump created this year.
The State Department has been denying permission to travel to the United States as a way to crack down on immigration or as a pressure tool against some governments, ranging from bans on South African officials accused of discrimination against white people to refusing to issue visas to the Palestinian delegation to attend an annual meeting of world leaders at the United Nations.
The 27 targeted include Bolivian Attorney General Roger Mariaca and more than 20 other Bolivian prosecutors and judges, 12 of whom were named as current visa holders and nine who will be denied visas should they apply. Two Colombians, a business mogul and a lawmaker, along with two Ecuadorians and one Peruvian judge are also affected.
Mariaca, who was elected to a six-year term in 2024, is accused of abusing his public position by soliciting and accepting bribes to facilitate narcotrafficking and is also accused of helping violent criminals evade justice, according to the documents.
“His actions endanger President Trump's efforts to combat narcoterrorism while undermining the very democratic institutions Bolivia, as a Shield participant, is working to strengthen,” the statement said.
Mariaca did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio stands with Lebanon's Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, not shown, at the State Department, Monday, Sept. 28, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
