Steve Ballmer’s silence on the Aspiration scandal is officially over. The Los Angeles Clippers owner’s legal team filed a new five-page letter in federal court ahead of Joseph Sanberg’s April 27 sentencing, spelling out the damage the now-bankrupt green-banking company inflicted on both Ballmer personally and the franchise.
It’s the most detailed public account of Ballmer’s dealings with Sanberg to date. The filing also pushes back hard on the public narrative that’s dogged the Clippers for months. And the scale of what’s on the record now is significant.
Steve Ballmer’s Attorney Details $60 Million Loss in Aspiration Fraud
The letter Steve Ballmer shared was written by David N. Kelley of O’Melveny & Myers and addressed to Judge Stephen V. Wilson of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. It states plainly that Ballmer lost his entire $60 million investment in Aspiration and was “flagrantly defrauded” by Sanberg.
It is alleged that Sanberg acted on Aspiration’s behalf to secure the naming rights for the Clippers’ arena. But when Aspiration’s bid failed, Ballmer chose to agree to a deal with Aspiration, since the company’s sustainability goals aligned with his.
The two investments reportedly broke down into $50 million on September 14, 2021, and another $10 million on March 9, 2023. Sanberg personally guaranteed the initial $50 million by granting Ballmer a put right on the investment’s value.
The filing also challenges the assumption of a close relationship between the two men.
According to Kelley, Ballmer and Sanberg had barely spoken outside of briefly greeting each other at a Clippers game.
Sanberg allegedly used Ballmer’s name to attract other investors without Ballmer’s knowledge. That’s the claim laid out in the letter, along with the argument that Sanberg specifically targeted Ballmer because of his wealth and well-known passion for environmental sustainability.
Any returns from Ballmer’s investments were intended for charitable causes, not personal gain, as the Clippers owner suggests. Sanberg pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud in a scheme that defrauded investors of $248 million. Each count carries a maximum of 20 years, as Sanberg’s attorneys seek a lesser sentence.
Ballmer has acknowledged his own lack of foresight publicly before. “Maybe I feel embarrassed and kind of silly that I didn’t sniff it out, but I didn’t,” he told ESPN in September 2025.
In the tweet posting the letter, Ballmer wrote about feeling duped again. “I was duped and feel silly about that. Everyone who believed in Aspiration, including employees, customers and investors, was also duped.”
Five 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…
— Steve Ballmer (@Steven_Ballmer) April 23, 2026
NBA’s Investigation and the Kawhi Leonard Connection
The Clippers lost nearly all of a $300 million, 23-year sponsorship deal with Aspiration. More than $20 million sat in escrow for carbon offset purchases that were never made, and the funds were never returned.
The franchise’s bigger concern is the ongoing NBA probe. David Anders of Wachtell Lipton is leading the league’s investigation into whether the Clippers circumvented the salary cap to compensate Kawhi Leonard through Aspiration’s $28 million endorsement deal with the forward.
Anders confirmed in a separate April 17 letter that Sanberg voluntarily sat for two in-person interviews and provided documents that substantially assisted the probe.
The NBA investigation launched in September 2025, sparked by podcaster Pablo Torre’s reporting. Ballmer’s legal team even pushed back directly in the filing, characterizing Torre’s coverage as a public campaign built on anonymized gossip.
Sanberg is now scheduled to be sentenced on April 27 in federal court in downtown Los Angeles.
