Letter: Aspiration co-founder cooperated with NBA investigation

Attorneys representing the NBA and LA Clippers owner Steve Ballmer submitted separate letters to a federal judge ahead of the sentencing of Joseph Sanberg, the co-founder of Aspiration, a now-defunct green banking company at the center of salary cap circumvention allegations under investigation by the league.

David Anders, the Wachtell Lipton attorney leading the NBA's investigation into whether the Clippers circumvented the league's salary cap to compensate Kawhi Leonard, said Sanberg sat for two in-person interviews and provided documents and, via his lawyers, "information that was relevant to our 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. Each count carries a maximum of 20 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 comments about the league's probe. The NBA launched its investigation in September 2025 after podcaster Pablo Torre, citing internal documents and an interview with an unnamed Aspiration employee, reported that Leonard's $28 million sponsorship deal was to circumvent the salary cap. Torre reported the deal came about seven months after Ballmer personally invested $50 million in Aspiration, in September 2021, and the Clippers announced a $300 million, 23-year sponsorship deal with the company. Ballmer made an additional $10 million investment on March 9, 2023.

In a five-page letter to the judge that was obtained by ESPN, an attorney for Ballmer said the Clippers owner lost his entire $60 million investment in Aspiration, which declared bankruptcy in 2025, and has faced "immeasurable" harm to his reputation. The Clippers also 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," according to the letter, which a source with knowledge of the situation said had been filed in court.

Ballmer's attorney also said he was "flagrantly defrauded" by Sanberg and claims Sanberg targeted Ballmer for his wealth and passion for environmental sustainability while using his relationship with Ballmer to attract other investors.

"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 for comment.

Sanberg's attorneys have asked the judge for a lesser sentence, saying the potential sentence exceeds his culpability, according to an April 19 filing with the court. They also state the government has portrayed Sanberg as a "greedy Ponzi schemer who fleeced victims and lined his own pockets while singularly causing a corporate bankruptcy."

Rather, they wrote, "Joe's focus has always been on purpose over personal gain. His conduct in this case was not driven by greed, and he derived little financial gain from it. Today, he is penniless and lives in his mother's house, his career and reputation in tatters.

"The lessons he has learned from this case, and the remorse he feels, are real. He seeks only the chance to continue working to pay restitution, to care for his mother, and to serve the impoverished."

The April 19 filing from Sanberg's attorneys included more than a dozen letters from friends, family and former Aspiration investors in support of Sanberg and his character.

Ballmer's attorney wrote that in the wake of allegations, Ballmer commissioned an internal review of the Clippers organization and directed team employees and employees of his charitable organization to cooperate with the NBA investigation. Ballmer's attorneys sought information from Sanberg, who declined multiple requests, according to the letter.

The NBA didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. The Clippers declined comment.

Ballmer's attorney also wrote that Torre's reporting was a "vitriolic public campaign against Mr. Ballmer" and "principally based on anonymized gossip."

In a statement to ESPN, Torre said, "Last month, Pablo Torre Finds Out published the federal whistleblower complaint, signed by two former Aspiration employees, which described how the Clippers allegedly used carbon credits 'to pay Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard an incentivized bonus to circumvent the NBA's salary cap, disguised as an organic marketing sponsorship agreement.'

"This complaint, submitted under penalty of perjury, was made in 2023, long before I acquired more than 3,000 pages of internal documents and financials. To dismiss our last year of careful reporting as 'gossip' is to also dismiss the same whistleblowers who provided the roadmap for the federal government to successfully convict Joseph Sanberg."

Ballmer has been named in a lawsuit filed by 11 former Aspiration investors who say they were defrauded out of millions by Sanberg and others at the company. Ballmer was added to the lawsuit, initially filed in July 2025, in November 2025, with investors alleging he participated in the fraud by funneling money to Leonard. Ballmer has denied the claims, and his attorneys have asked the court to determine that the investors failed to allege facts sufficient enough to state a legal claim, and for the case to be dismissed.

At the end of his letter, Ballmer's attorney asks the judge for a sentence that accounts for "the reputational damage that will take years to remediate, and in the chilling effect on future endeavors intended to do good at scale."br/]