Aspiration, a upstart financial technology firm with a strong commitment to sustainability, went bankrupt in 2025. This audacious move followed upon an announcement of fraud allegations lodged against its co-founder, Joe Sanberg. The company has attracted a lot of buzz for their partnership with NBA superstar Kawhi Leonard. Now it’s dealing with the fallout from Sanberg’s recent guilty plea on one count of wire fraud for defrauding investors and lenders out of more than $248 million.
The scandal deepened when it emerged that Aspiration had compensated Leonard $1.75 million. This payment came just nine days after Dennis J. Wong’s $1.99 million in the company. An unnamed employee has alleged that this payment was intended to circumvent the NBA salary cap, raising questions about the legitimacy of Aspiration’s financial practices.
In 2022, Aspiration signed a four-year $28 million endorsement deal with Kawhi Leonard. The contract, which was signed by Andrei Cherny—who departed the company later that year—placed enormous personal liabilities on Leonard. Cherny stated, “The contract contained three pages of extensive obligations that Leonard had to perform.” The Memorandum of understanding had specific provisions for international initiatives during the 2022-23 season.
Cherny has since said he doesn’t know what happened in those negotiations after he left. I signed Leonard’s contract just before I turned in my final resignation, but even before I departed there were many different exciting international discussions about all of the different things Aspiration was going to be doing with Leonard once the 2022-23 season started. I am unable to comment on what may have been done or not done after I departed — or the reasons for it,” he added.
Aspiration came under the most notable scrutiny after its largest investor, Steve Ballmer, owner of the Los Angeles Clippers. In September 2021, he poured $50 million into the company through that same personal LLC. Just two weeks later, in their own quest for clout, the Clippers announced a $300 million partnership with Aspiration.
As the pandemic-era money trail continued to be investigated and Aspiration entered bankruptcy, the financial startup’s leadership has consistently defended their sponsorship agreement with Leonard as above board. Serious questions still hang over FTX’s financial integrity and its future in an increasingly loaded competitive field.
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