Report: Clippers sent Aspiration $32.4M same day Kawhi inked 'no-show' deal
The Los Angeles Clippers sent over $32.4 million to Aspiration on April 4, 2022, the same day the company signed Kawhi Leonard to an apparent "no-show" marketing contract worth $28 million, Pablo Torre reported Thursday on the "Pablo Torre Finds Out" podcast, citing new bank documents.
The $32.4 million transfer followed a $3 million payment from the Clippers to Aspiration three days earlier, on April 1, according to Torre.
The combined $35 million was reportedly earmarked as prepayment for carbon credits, which allow companies to offset their carbon dioxide emissions.
On June 14, 2022, the Clippers then sent a letter to East West Bank notifying the institution of their intent to wire just under $21 million to Aspiration, Torre added. Signed by the Clippers' chief financial officer (though the name is redacted), the letter reportedly outlines carbon credits and a $10 million "reforestation project development" as the purpose for the withdrawal.
Torre also revealed a subsequent document, signed by the Clippers' CFO and former Aspiration CEO Andrei Cherny, confirming that Aspiration would transfer 400,000 carbon credits to the Clippers on June 30, 2022 - the same date as when Leonard's first payment from Aspiration was reportedly due.
At the time, the Clippers' Intuit Dome was still under construction. The franchise had frequently emphasized its goal of making the new arena carbon neutral, though construction on the facility wasn't completed until August 2024.
"Our development agreements for the arena included mandates to buy carbon credits," the Clippers said in a statement sent to Torre. "But after studying the issue of neutrality, we went far beyond those requirements, exploring ways to address emissions from our fans and contracting with Aspiration to directly purchase carbon offsets, as well as broker the acquisition of additional offsets.
"Some of those commitments were built into the sponsorship deal with Aspiration - totally separate of the investment in the company - and we made payments to Aspiration until the company was unable to fulfill their responsibilities."
The NBA is investigating the Clippers for allegedly circumventing the salary cap by paying Leonard outside the terms of his player contract through the now-bankrupt Aspiration.
Clippers owner Steve Ballmer reportedly personally invested at least $60 million into Aspiration between September 2021 and March 2023. Clippers co-owner Dennis Wong also apparently sent $2 million to the company in December 2022, nine days before Aspiration made a late $1.75 million payment to Leonard and laid off approximately 20% of its staff.
The Clippers have denied the allegations. Ballmer said during an ESPN interview earlier in September that he was one of several people conned by Aspiration co-founder Joseph Sanberg, who pleaded guilty in August to defrauding investors out of $248 million.
During a recent deposition, Sanberg repeatedly invoked his Fifth Amendment right when asked about the Clippers' investments, according to court documents obtained by Torre.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver said earlier this month that the league will weigh all the evidence found in its inquiry before deciding on possible punishment.