By Johnathan Jones
The LA Clippers and owner Steve Ballmer have been accused of circumventing the NBA’s salary cap through a $28 million “no-show job” for star player Kawhi Leonard through a “fraudulent tree-lanting company,” according to reports.
Pablo Torre, a podcaster and former ESPN contributor, reported Wednesday that Ballmer allegedly funneled money to Leonard through Aspiration, a now-defunct socially conscious banking and investment firm once valued at $2.3 billion that is now under fraud investigation by the federal government.
Ballmer, one of the wealthiest men in the world and a former Microsoft CEO, invested $50 million in Aspiration on Sept. 14, 2021, Torre said on his “Pablo Torre Finds Out” podcast.
Exclusive: Kawhi Leonard signed a $28M endorsement deal for a “no-show job” with a fraudulent tree-planting company funded by $50M from Clippers owner Steve Ballmer, according to documents obtained by @PabloTorre.
“It was to circumvent the salary cap,” an inside source says. pic.twitter.com/F6z5pNEkI1
— Pablo Torre Finds Out (@pablofindsout) September 3, 2025
Our full episode, btw, is a full-length documentary about how two Democratic politicians from Harvard are behind a $2.3B scheme centered around climate change.
They had a key donor: the richest owner in sports.
They hired Drake, Leo DiCaprio, Robert Downey Jr…
And, secretly: https://t.co/Id6K9z10FS
— Pablo Torre ️ (@PabloTorre) September 3, 2025
A shockingly good story from @pablofindsout
Clippers owner and former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, the seventh richest man in the world, engaged in what looks like money laundering to get around the NBA salary cap. He invested in an ‘eco-friendly bank’ called Aspiration started…
— Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) September 3, 2025
The firm billed itself as an “eco-friendly bank” and sought to profit from climate initiatives. The company had several celebrities among its investors, including Orlando Bloom, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Robert Downey Jr., according to TechCrunch.
A Department of Justice news release said Sanberg “personally recruited companies and individuals to sign letters of intent with Aspiration in which they committed to pay tens of thousands of dollars per month for tree planting services. Sanberg used legal entities under his control to conceal that these payments came from Sanberg rather than from the customers.”
“Aspiration booked revenue from these customers between March 2021 and November 2022, but Sanberg did not disclose that he was the source of the payments. As a result, Aspiration’s financial statements were inaccurate and reflected much higher revenue than the company in fact received,” according to the DOJ release.
