{"id":718185,"date":"2026-04-26T02:00:23","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T02:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/718185\/"},"modified":"2026-04-26T02:00:23","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T02:00:23","slug":"clippers-steve-ballmer-tells-court-he-was-duped-by-aspiration-founder-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/718185\/","title":{"rendered":"Clippers\u2019 Steve Ballmer Tells Court He Was \u2018Duped\u2019 by Aspiration Founder"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Los Angeles Clippers<\/a> were at the center of a major scandal involving an allegedly fraudulent endorsement deal<\/a> this summer. A deal between a company called Aspiration and superstar Kawhi Leonard<\/a> was allegedly used to circumvent the NBA\u2019s salary cap.<\/p>\n

\"LA2026 Mar 21; LA Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard (2) controls the ball during the second quarter against the Dallas Mavericks<\/a> at the American Airlines Center. Photo Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

The NBA is conducting an investigation into the allegedly fraudulent endorsement deal. Additionally, Aspiration co-founder Joseph Sanberg will learn his prison sentence for his fraud conviction on Monday.<\/p>\n

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Clippers Owner Claims He Was \u201cDuped\u201d<\/p>\n

On Thursday, Clippers owner Steve Ballmer shared a letter he sent to U.S. District Judge Stephen Wilson that claimed he and the Clippers franchise were \u201cduped\u201d by Aspiration.<\/p>\n

\u201cFive 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cAspiration\u2019s 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. Here is the letter I submitted to Judge Wilson ahead of Monday\u2019s scheduled sentencing of Joe Sanberg,\u201d Ballmer wrote in a social media post on X<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"LAMar 16, 2026; Inglewood, California, USA; LA Clippers owner Steve Ballmer reacts against the San Antonio Spurs<\/a> in the first half at Intuit Dome. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

According to Ballmer\u2019s letter to the judge, he invested $60 million into Aspiration. In addition to the financial losses Ballmer suffered by investing in Aspiration, Ballmer\u2019s letter claims he has also suffered reputational damage.<\/p>\n

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There is no timeline for when the NBA will complete its investigation into the endorsement deal. However, there is reportedly no longer an expectation that Leonard\u2019s contract with the Clippers will be voided, which was initially listed as a potential punishment if found guilty.<\/p>\n

Photo Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

The post Clippers\u2019 Steve Ballmer Tells Court He Was \u2018Duped\u2019 by Aspiration Founder<\/a> appeared first on LA Sports Report<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Los Angeles Clippers were at the center of a major scandal involving an allegedly fraudulent endorsement deal…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":718186,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3789],"tags":[18068,7,559,149,34894,20839,44310,529,4034,192,4032,251,135,4033,4031,6,474,89456,3677,203],"class_list":["post-718185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles-clippers","tag-aspiration","tag-basketball","tag-clippers","tag-dallas-mavericks","tag-endorsement-deal","tag-jerome-miron-imagn","tag-joseph-sanberg","tag-kawhi-leonard","tag-la","tag-la-clippers","tag-laclippers","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-clippers","tag-losangeles","tag-losangelesclippers","tag-nba","tag-san-antonio-spurs","tag-stephen-wilson","tag-steve-ballmer","tag-the-nba"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116468542739920447","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=718185"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718185\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/718186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=718185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=718185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=718185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}