Fenway Sports Group, the American conglomerate that owns Liverpool FC, has held talks about buying a majority stake in the Cadillac Formula One team for more than £2bn. Because nothing says "we're serious about football" like diversifying into a sport where the cars go faster than the club's transfer negotiations.

The potential deal comes as Mark Walter, the 66-year-old controlling owner of the Cadillac team through his TWG Global, continues to sell off his sporting assets amid allegations of insurance fraud. Walter is under investigation by the US Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission over alleged fraud involving the management of funds at his insurance companies Delaware Life, Clear Spring, and EquiTrust. TWG has said "there has been no fraud" - a statement that is, at minimum, on brand for the current era of sports ownership.

Walter has already sold his controlling interest in the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers and a 13% stake in Chelsea this summer, and is also looking to sell the WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks. He insists he will not sell the Los Angeles Dodgers, the MLB team he controls, presumably because some assets are worth holding onto even when the feds are reading your emails.

Cadillac entered F1 this year as a joint venture between General Motors and TWG Global. TWG has denied that a sale of Cadillac is imminent, but the Guardian has learned it has had talks with a number of interested parties including FSG, whose sporting investments also include majority stakes in the Boston Red Sox and the NHL's Pittsburgh Penguins. FSG, for its part, declined to comment on its investment plans - the universal signal for "yes, we are absolutely doing this."

A source with knowledge of FSG's plans disclosed that it is looking at other sporting investments after selling 38% of Liverpool this summer to a consortium that includes Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin. That group has also secured the option to complete a full takeover at Anfield before August 2027. So FSG is simultaneously cashing out of Liverpool and shopping for a Formula One team, which is either brilliant portfolio management or the world's most expensive distraction technique.

A move by FSG to buy into Cadillac could have implications for its position at Liverpool, which is valued at £5.5bn after this summer's partial sale. That presents the opportunity to make a huge profit after FSG paid £300m for the entire club in 2010 - a return on investment that would make even the most seasoned venture capitalist weep with envy.

FSG has a history of investing in motor sport through its 50% stake in the Nascar team RFK Racing. The source added that FSG has been attracted to F1 by the sport's remarkable growth over the last decade, particularly in the US. F1's annual revenue has more than doubled to $4bn (£3bn) since it was bought by Liberty Media in 2017, and the value of its TV rights continues to increase. In other words, the sport is printing money, and FSG would like some of that ink.

Sportico has previously reported that Walter values his Cadillac shareholding at about £2.24bn. The size of TWG's and General Motors' respective stakes has never been made public, which is convenient for everyone involved.

Cadillac, meanwhile, are bottom of the constructors' championship in their debut season and have yet to win a point. So FSG may be buying a team that is currently slower than a Liverpool defensive clearance in the 90th minute. But hey, at least the fraud allegations are someone else's problem - for now.