Clippers owner Steve Ballmer said in a social media post Tuesday that he was duped into signing an agreement with Aspiration, a green financial company, in a move that ultimately cost him millions of dollars and harmed his reputation.
The 70-year-old billionaire stated that he initially invested in Aspiration because he believed the company aligned with his environmental values and beliefs, and he, like other investors, was deceived in the viability of the company.
“Five years ago, I invested in Aspiration, a company focused on environmental sustainability, a cause deeply important to me and my family. I also bought carbon credits and trees through the company to reduce the carbon footprint of the Clippers, Intuit Dome, the Kia Forum and all our fans and patrons,” Ballmer said in his official statement.
“Aspiration’s founder, Joe Sanberg, engaged in fraud that injured many, and eventually, took the company down. I was duped and feel silly about that. Everyone who believed in Aspiration, including employees, customers and investors, was also duped. Everyone is still tallying the losses.”
The social media post comes a day after ESPN reported that Sanberg had two in-person interviews and provided documents and relevant information to the NBA as it investigates whether Ballmer and the Clippers used Aspiration to compensate star forward Kawhi Leonard and circumvent the league’s salary cap rules.
Ballmer posted these comments along with a link to his letter sent to the judge in the case, ahead of Sanberg’s scheduled sentencing Monday. Sanberg pleaded guilty to charges of wire fraud in October, defrauding company investors by falsifying Aspiration’s financial statements and, along with another Aspiration board member, Ibrahim AlHusseini, also fraudulently obtained $145 million in loans from two banks.
In the letter, Ballmer’s attorney, David N. Kelley, accused Sanberg of targeting Ballmer because of his philanthropy and well-known commitment to environmental stewardship. Sanberg, the letter says, “convinced” the Clippers organization and Ballmer’s financial advisors, like other investors – that Aspiration was a “financial rising star with a roster of brand name investors.”
According to the letter, at the time, Aspiration’s financial records reflected that the company had a portfolio of $1.5 billion to $2 billion in carbon credit. On top of that, Ballmer and Aspiration agreed to a lucrative sponsorship deal, in which Aspiration would commit more than $300 million to become the founding partner of the new Intuit Dome.
Based on that, Ballmer invested approximately $50 million in September 2021 and another $10 million in March 2023, all of which he lost when Aspiration went bankrupt.
Ballmer’s attorney also alleges that the owner’s relationship with Sanberg led podcaster Pablo Torre to investigate the matter. Kelley said Torre, “based on anonymized gossip,” alleged that Ballmer conspired with Sanberg to circumvent the league salary cap rules with a $28 million endorsement deal between Leonard and Aspiration, for whom the seven-time All Star was reportedly not required to perform any duties.