Steve Ballmer Says Joseph Sanberg Duped Him After Aspiration Wire Fraud Plea

Joseph Sanberg, the founder of Aspiration Partners, pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud and defrauding multiple investors and lenders in August 2025, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

“Kawhi Leonard believes he's going to be in the clear from the NBA's probe into his endorsement deal with Aspiration”

ESPN

Each count carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, and sentencing was described as scheduled for Monday in TechCrunch’s account.

Los Angeles Times

Ahead of sentencing, victims were invited to describe their experience with Sanberg to the judge, and Steve Ballmer did so publicly, TechCrunch reported.

Ballmer’s letter, shared on X, said, “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 DOJ alleged Aspiration booked and recognized revenue from entities held by Sanberg, making the company appear to have a steady stream of customers and revenue that it did not actually have, Reuters said in its description of the DOJ’s case.

The DOJ further alleged Sanberg defrauded investors by showing them a fabricated letter from Aspiration’s audit committee stating “$250 million in available cash and equivalents” when it had “less than $1 million.”

In parallel, ESPN described that Sanberg previously pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud for his role in a scheme that prosecutors said defrauded investors out of $248 million, with each count carrying a maximum of 20 years in prison.

Aspiration Partners marketed itself as a “green” fintech project offering “sustainable banking services like credit cards and investment products that avoided fossil fuels,” and it promised, “automatically plant trees with every card purchase,” according to TechCrunch and The Times of India.

In 2021, Aspiration announced plans to go public via a SPAC merger at a value of $2.3 billion, but the transaction never took place, TechCrunch reported.

mezha.net

The DOJ alleged that Aspiration booked and recognized revenue from entities held by Sanberg, which made the company appear to have a steady stream of customers and revenue that it did not actually have.

DOJ also alleged that Sanberg defrauded investors by showing them a fabricated letter from Aspiration’s audit committee stating the company had $250 million in available cash and equivalents when it had less than $1 million.

TechCrunch further said DOJ alleged Sanberg, along with a board member who also pleaded guilty, falsified financial records to obtain $145 million in loans.

Sportico described the wire-fraud scheme as defrauding lenders and investors of more than $248 million between 2020 and 2025, and it said the letter Ballmer sent to Judge Stephen Wilson highlighted that Sanberg cooperated in an NBA investigation.

ESPN added that the NBA investigation began in September 2025 after podcaster Pablo Torre reported that Leonard’s $28 million sponsorship deal was to circumvent the salary cap, linking the fraud case to later sports-business scrutiny.

Steve Ballmer, described as a former Microsoft CEO and current Clippers owner, used the sentencing process to argue he was harmed by Sanberg’s fraud and to address the NBA’s parallel investigation.

“A high profile fintech founder admitted to fabricating cash balances and loan documents”

mezha.net

TechCrunch said Ballmer’s lawyers told the judge that he has “lost money, been vilified,” and that “the NBA is investigating allegations stemming from the association.”

In The Times of India’s excerpt of Ballmer’s letter, Ballmer wrote to “Dear Judge Wilson” and said, “Mr. Ballmer invested a total of $60 million in Aspiration,” adding that Sanberg’s “representations turned out to be lies.”

The Times of India also included Ballmer’s framing that “Mr. Ballmer is a clear and undisputed victim of Sanberg’s fraud—one of the single largest of Sanberg’s many victims,” and it said the letter asked the court to consider the harm under “18 U.S.C. 3553(a).”

ESPN reported that Ballmer’s attorney wrote that Sanberg “continues to exploit his fraud of Mr. Ballmer for his benefit, providing information to the NBA in return for a sentencing letter that the league submitted on his behalf.”

ESPN also said Ballmer’s attorney described Ballmer’s losses as “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.”

Sportico said Ballmer’s letter highlighted how Sanberg cooperated in an NBA investigation into whether the Clippers circumvented the salary cap by using Aspiration to funnel additional money to star player Kawhi Leonard through a no-show endorsement deal.

While Ballmer’s letter portrayed Sanberg’s cooperation as self-serving, NBA investigators described the cooperation as helpful and consistent with evidence.

The New York Times reported that David Anders, the lawyer leading Wachtell’s investigation for the NBA, told a federal judge that Sanberg sat for two in-person interviews and provided documentation and information for the investigation.

Sports Business Journal

The New York Times quoted Anders writing, “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,” and it added, “Mr. Sanberg’s cooperation substantially assisted our investigation, including our ability to develop a more complete understanding of key events.”

ESPN similarly quoted the April 17 letter to Judge Stephen V. Wilson, saying Anders wrote that Sanberg provided documents and “information that was relevant to our investigation,” and it included the line, “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.”

Sportico described Ballmer’s position that Sanberg agreed to cooperate in exchange for the league submitting a favorable sentencing letter to Judge Wilson, and it said Ballmer argued Sanberg shouldn’t be regarded as a credible informant.

ESPN reported that Ballmer’s attorney wrote the reliability of Sanberg’s information is “suspect” because Sanberg “has pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges,” and it said the government had made its own determination that he is not credible.

The Los Angeles Times described that as many as a dozen letters were submitted ahead of Sanberg’s sentencing Monday, including a letter from Ballmer’s attorney David N. Kelley that concluded Ballmer’s harm was “immeasurable.”

As Sanberg’s sentencing approached, the reporting tied the outcome to both criminal consequences and the NBA’s ongoing investigation into possible salary-cap circumvention.

“Clippers owner Steve Ballmer on Thursday “had his attorneys send a letter” to the judge overseeing Aspiration co-founder Joe Sanberg‘s sentencing for fraud which “detailed all the ways in which Ballmer claimed he was defrauded by Sanberg and Aspiration”

Sports Business Journal

ESPN said Sanberg is scheduled to be sentenced April 27 in federal court in downtown Los Angeles, and it described prosecutors as having asked Judge Stephen V. Wilson to give him more than 17 years in jail followed by three years of supervised release.

TechCrunch

ESPN also said Sanberg’s attorneys are seeking a lesser sentence, and it described that the NBA launched its investigation in September 2025 after podcaster Pablo Torre reported that Leonard’s $28 million sponsorship deal was to circumvent the salary cap.

The New York Times reported that the NBA hired Wachtell Lipton to investigate the matter, and it described that the NBA’s investigation centers on whether the Clippers may have used the marketing contract to pay Leonard more money than he could have received under the league salary cap.

The New York Times also said the Clippers owner Steve Ballmer tweeted a copy of his letter and that Ballmer’s letter said he “was duped and feel silly” and that “Everyone is still tallying the losses.”

Sportico described the potential NBA consequences if commissioner Adam Silver concludes the Clippers violated the CBA, including fines, suspend Ballmer and others, or order forfeiture of Clippers draft picks, and it said Silver could even void Leonard’s contract with the Clippers.

The Los Angeles Times described that Leonard denied wrongdoing, saying, “I understand the full contract and services that I had to do. Like I said, I don’t deal with conspiracies or the click-bait analysts or journalism that’s going on.”