{"id":709673,"date":"2026-06-02T04:43:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T04:43:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/709673\/"},"modified":"2026-06-02T04:43:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T04:43:12","slug":"aspiration-co-founder-sentenced-to-14-years-amid-nbas-clippers-investigation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/709673\/","title":{"rendered":"Aspiration Co-Founder Sentenced to 14 Years Amid NBA\u2019s Clippers Investigation"},"content":{"rendered":"

The NBA is still conducting an investigation into claims that the Los Angeles Clippers<\/a> used a fraudulent endorsement deal with a tree-planting company called Aspiration to circumvent the league\u2019s salary cap.<\/p>\n

NBA insider Ramona Shelbourne said she does not expect the results of the investigation to be released until at least after the NBA playoffs<\/a> and likely in July or August. But a big update in the fraud case happened on Monday when Aspiration co-founder Joseph Sanberg was sentenced to 14 years in federal prison.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Sanberg pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud, and prosecutors claimed Sanberg defrauded investors and lenders out of $248 million. Sanberg apologized for his actions in court before his sentencing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI accept that I lost my moral compass and wrongly stepped over the line, and I\u2019m very sorry,\u201d Sanberg said, per ESPN<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Steve Ballmer Claimed To Be \u201cDuped\u201d By Sanberg\"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

Clippers owner Steve Ballmer claimed he was \u201cduped\u201d by Sanberg in a letter he sent to the judge in April.<\/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,\u201d Ballmer wrote on social media<\/a> when he shared the letter.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Aspiration announced a 23-year, $300 million endorsement deal\u00a0with the Clippers in September 2021 and a $28 million deal with Kawhi Leonard<\/a> in April 2022. Ballmer reportedly invested $60 million into the company.<\/p>\n

Pablo Torre of the \u201cPablo Torre Finds Out\u201d podcast released legal documents and an interview with a former Aspiration in September that suggested Ballmer and the Clippers used Aspiration\u2019s endorsement deal with Leonard to circumvent the NBA\u2019s salary cap. \u2018<\/p>\n

Torre won a Pulitzer Prize<\/a> for his reporting in May.<\/p>\n

Despite Torre\u2019s claims, Ballmer and the Clippers have consistently said they are innocent.<\/p>\n

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

The post Aspiration Co-Founder Sentenced to 14 Years Amid NBA\u2019s Clippers Investigation<\/a> appeared first on LA Sports Report<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The NBA is still conducting an investigation into claims that the Los Angeles Clippers used a fraudulent endorsement…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":709674,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[82015,64,63,345075,1175,7236,590,10549,85,82014,16881],"class_list":["post-709673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-aspiration","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-joseph-sanberg","tag-kawhi-leonard","tag-los-angeles-clippers","tag-nba","tag-san-antonio-spurs","tag-sports","tag-steve-ballmer","tag-the-nba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709673","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=709673"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709673\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/709674"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=709673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=709673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=709673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}