An attorney for Clippers owner Steve Ballmer claimed in a letter submitted to a federal judge and obtained by ESPN that Ballmer lost his entire $60 million investment in Aspiration, the now-defunct green banking company at the center of salary cap allegations that are being investigated by the NBA.
The letter, along with another from the NBA, was submitted to the judge ahead of the sentencing of Joseph Sanberg, the co-founder of Aspiration. David Anders is the Wachtell Lipton attorney leading the NBA’s investigation into whether the Clippers circumvented the league’s salary cap rules to compensate Clippers star Kawhi Leonard.
In the five-page letter to the judge obtained by ESPN, Ballmer’s attorney also said the owner has faced “immeasurable” harm to his reputation, and the Clippers lost “virtually all of the $300 million sponsorship payments, and more than $20 million held in escrow for additional carbon offset purchases, which were never made and the money not returned,” a source with knowledge of the situation said had been filed in court, according to ESPN.
Ballmer’s attorney also claimed the owner was “flagrantly defrauded” by Sanberg and targeted for his wealth and passion for environmental sustainability. Sanberg co-founded and ran Aspiration, the company that signed Leonard to a four-year, $28 million marketing contract for which he allegedly didn’t perform any work.
“This is particularly insidious given that, other than greeting Sanberg at a Clippers game they had barely spoken,” Ballmer’s attorney wrote. “Mr. Ballmer recalls speaking to Sanberg only once and that was only briefly while they both attended a public event.”
Sanberg’s attorney didn’t immediately respond to a request by ESPN for comment.
ESPN reported that Anders said Sanberg voluntarily sat for two in-person interviews and provided documents and, via his lawyers, had relevant information to the investigation, according to an April 17 letter to judge Stephen V. Wilson of the U.S. District Court of the Central District of California.
“In all our dealings with Mr. Sanberg, both directly and through his counsel, he provided information that was consistent with our review of contemporaneous documents and other evidence,” Anders wrote. “Mr. Sanberg’s cooperation substantially assisted our investigation, including our ability to develop a more complete understanding of key events. At no time during our dealings with Mr. Sanberg and his counsel did they seek, nor did we make any promises in exchange for his cooperation.”
Sanberg is scheduled to be sentenced April 27 in federal court in downtown Los Angeles. He previously pled guilty to two counts of wire fraud for his role in a scheme that prosecutors said defrauded investors out of $248 million. He faces a maximum of 40 years in prison.
Sanberg’s attorneys are seeking a lesser sentence, according to a recent court filing.
The letter is the NBA investigator’s first public comment about the league’s probe, which was launched in September 2025 after podcaster Pablo Torre reported that Leonard’s sponsorship to circumvent the salary cap, citing internal documents and his interview with an unnamed Aspiration employee.
Torre reported the deal came about seven months after Ballmer personally invested $50 million in Aspiration, in September 2021, and the Clippers announced their $300 million sponsorship deal.
Ballmer reportedly made an additional $10 million investment on March 9, 2023.