civil lawsuit

Clippers owner Steve Ballmer is being sued by 11 former investors in the sustainability firm Aspiration Partners.

Ballmer was added this week as a defendant in an existing civil lawsuit against Aspiration co-founder Joseph Sanberg and several others associated with the now-defunct company. Ballmer and the other defendants are accused of fraud and aiding and abetting fraud, with the plaintiffs seeking at least $50 million in damages.

“This is an action to recover millions of dollars that Plaintiffs were defrauded into investing, directly or indirectly, in CTN Holdings, Inc. (‘Catona’), previously known as Aspiration Partners, Inc,” reads the lawsuit, which was initially filed July 9 in Los Angeles County Superior Court, Central District.

Attorney Skip Miller said his firm, Miller Barondess LLP, filed an amended complaint Monday that added the billionaire team owner and his investment company, Ballmer Group, as defendants in light of recent allegations that a $28-million deal between Aspiration and Clippers star Kawhi Leonard helped the team circumvent the NBA’s salary cap.

“Ballmer was the perfect deep-pocket partner to fund Catona’s flagging operations and lend legitimacy to Catona’s carbon credit business,” says the amended complaint, which has been viewed by The Times. “Since Ballmer had publicly promoted himself as an advocate for sustainability, Catona was an ideal vehicle for Ballmer to secretly circumvent the NBA salary cap while purporting to support the company as a legitimate environmentalist investor.”

Although Ballmer did invest millions in Aspiration, it is not known whether he was aware of or played a role in facilitating the company’s deal with Leonard. The Times reached out to the Clippers for a comment from Ballmer or a team representative but did not receive an immediate response.

CTN Holdings filed for bankruptcy in March and, according to the lawsuit, is no longer in operation.

In late August, Sanberg agreed to plead guilty in federal court to a scheme to defraud investors and lenders of more than $248 million. On Sept. 3, investigative journalist Pablo Torre reported on his podcast that after reviewing numerous documents and conducting interviews with former employees of the now-defunct firm, he did not find evidence of any marketing or endorsement work done by Leonard for the company.

That was news to the plaintiffs, according to their amended lawsuit.

“Ballmer’s purported status as a legitimate investor in Catona was material to Plaintiffs’ decision to invest in and/or keep their investments with Catona,” the complaint states.

It also says that “Sanberg and Ballmer never disclosed to Plaintiffs that the millions of dollars Ballmer injected into Catona were meant to allow Ballmer to funnel compensation to Leonard in violation of NBA rules and keep Catona’s failing business afloat financially. Sanberg and Ballmer’s scheme to pay Leonard through Catona to evade the NBA’s salary cap was only later revealed in 2025, by journalist Pablo Torre.”

Miller said in a statement to The Times: “A lot of people including our clients got hurt badly in this case. This lawsuit is being brought to make them whole for their losses. I look forward to our day in court for justice.”

The NBA announced an investigation into the matter in early September. Speaking at a forum that month hosted by the Sports Business Journal, Ballmer said that he felt “quite confident … that we abided [by] the rules. So, I welcome the investigation that the NBA is doing.”

The Clippers said in a statement at the time: “Neither Mr. Ballmer nor the Clippers circumvented the salary cap or engaged in any misconduct related to Aspiration. Any contrary assertion is provably false: The team ended its relationship with Aspiration years ago, during the 2022-23 season, when Aspiration defaulted on its obligations.

“Neither the Clippers nor Mr. Ballmer was aware of any improper activity by Aspiration or its co-founder until after the government instituted its investigation.”

Leonard also has denied being involved in any wrongdoing associated with his deal with the now-defunct firm. Asked about the matter Sept. 29 during Clippers media day to open training camp, Leonard said, “I don’t think it’s accurate” that he provided no endorsement services to the company. He added that he hadn’t been paid all the money due to him from the deal.

The 69-year-old truck driver who got into a physical altercation with former USC quarterback Mark Sanchez over the weekend is out of the hospital and continuing his recovery at home, according to his attorneys.

Indiana resident Perry Tole suffered a laceration on his left cheek during an incident that occurred late Friday night and into early Saturday in an alley outside a downtown Indianapolis hotel.

“He’s been released from the hospital, recovering and hopeful that he’ll have regained function to — you know, his ability to speak,” Eric J. May, one of the attorneys representing Tole in a civil lawsuit against Sanchez, told TMZ on Monday.

“Right now he’s having a real difficult time communicating because of the large gash on his face. It affected his jaw, tongue and mouth.”

May added that Tole “can speak right now, but it’s just so slurred and so labored for him, just because of all the trauma to his mouth and cheek.”

Attorney Edward R. Reichert told TMZ that Tole won’t be able to attend his son’s wedding this weekend as a result of what he went through. May said he expects “further medical treatment and an ongoing treatment for him well into the future” and added that “psychological injuries” also are a concern.

“I think it’s too early to tell what his long term prognosis is going to be, but we’re hopeful,” May said. “He’s out right now, he’s back with his wife, and I think they’re just glad to be alive.”

Sanchez was pepper-sprayed in the face and stabbed multiple times by Tole during the scuffle, according to a probable-cause affidavit filed Saturday by the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department.

As of Monday morning, Sanchez remained in the hospital and was listed in stable condition. His brother released a statement later in the day on behalf of the Sanchez family.

“This has been a deeply distressing time for everyone involved,” Nick Sanchez said. “Mark and our family are incredibly grateful for the concern, love, and support we’ve received over the past few days. Mark remains under medical care for the serious injuries he sustained and is focused on his recovery as the legal process continues.”

Sanchez is being charged with a level five felony of battery involving serious bodily injury and three misdemeanors — battery resulting in injury, unauthorized entry of a motor vehicle and public intoxication.

Marion County, Ind., prosecutor Ryan Mears said Monday that more charges are possible as the investigation continues.

Sanchez was in Indianapolis to call Sunday’s Raiders-Colts game for Fox Sports. Fellow Fox analyst Brady Quinn filled in for Sanchez on the broadcast.

According to the affidavit, which was based on hotel surveillance footage and a statement Tole gave to the police, Sanchez apparently objected to Toles backing his box truck onto the hotel’s loading dock while performing his job with a company that recycles and disposes of commercial cooking oil.

Sanchez smelled of alcohol at the time of the confrontation, the affidavit said.

Tole’s civil lawsuit, filed Monday in Marion County Superior Court, alleges that he suffered “severe permanent disfigurement, loss of function, other physical injuries, emotional distress, and other damages” as a result of Sanchez’s actions.

Sanchez’s employer, Fox Corp., is named as a co-defendent in the suit, in which Tole seeks compensatory and punitive damages to be determined at trial.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

New Orleans Pelicans star Zion Williamson has been accused of raping and abusing a woman who says she dated the former Duke standout and No. 1 overall draft pick from 2018-2023.

In a civil lawsuit filed Thursday in Los Angeles County Superior Court, a woman identified as Jane Doe provides details of two alleged instances in 2020 during which Williamson raped her in a Beverly Hills apartment he was renting at the time.

“These two incidents were not isolated,” the lawsuit states. “Defendant continued to abuse, rape, assault, and batter Plaintiff in California and other states, including Louisiana and Texas, until the relationship ended in 2023.”

Williamson’s attorneys at Barrasso Usdin Kupperman Freeman & Sarver, LLC, denied the accusations in a statement emailed to The Times on Friday.

“The allegations contained in the complaint are categorically false and reckless,” the firm stated. “This appears to be an attempt to exploit a professional athlete driven by a financial motive rather than any legitimate grievance.”

Williamson’s attorneys said he and the accuser “never dated, but did maintain a consensual, casual relationship.” The firm added that “Mr. Williamson also intends to file counterclaims and seek significant damages for this defamatory lawsuit.”

Williamson’s accuser is seeking unspecified damages for nine causes of action that include assault, sexual battery, domestic violence, burglary, stalking and false imprisonment.

“Our client and we do not want to litigate this case in the press. That’s not our intent,” attorney Sam Taylor from the Lanier Law Firm, which is representing the accuser, told The Times on Friday.

“However, I do say this is a very serious case, reflected in the allegations in the complaint. Our client just looks forward to her day in court where she can talk to a jury of her peers and tell them what happened to her and how bad it was and see justice against Mr. Williamson.”

Taylor said that “as of now,” his client is not planning to file lawsuits in any of the other locations where alleged incidents took place.

The Pelicans did not immediately respond to The Times’ request for comment.

According to the lawsuit, the two began dating during Williamson’s freshman, and only, year at Duke, where he played during the 2018-19 season.

“During the course of their relationship, Defendant engaged in a continuing pattern of abusive, controlling, and threatening behavior toward Plaintiff,” the lawsuit states. “His wrongful conduct occurred in Louisiana and continued thereafter across several states. The abuse was sexual, physical, emotional, and financial in nature.”

Williamson moved to Beverly Hills for training and rented a house in the area during the fall of 2020, according to the filing. The lawsuit provides explicit details of two alleged instances in which Williamson raped the accuser, “on or about” Sept. 23, 2020, and on Oct. 10, 2020.

The lawsuit also alleges that Williamson committed many other “acts of criminal violence” against his accuser during their relationship, including strangling her multiple times to the point she lost consciousness, suffocating and/or smothering her, beating and kicking her, threatening to kill her and her family members, and pointing a loaded firearm to her head.

Williamson “was either drunk or on cocaine” while allegedly committing many of those acts, the lawsuit states.

“As a direct and proximate result of Defendant’s conduct, Plaintiff has suffered severe emotional distress, anxiety, depression, humiliation, loss of sleep, and other physical and emotional injuries,” the lawsuit states. “As a further direct and proximate result of Defendant’s conduct, Plaintiff has incurred expenses for medical and psychological treatment, therapy, and counseling.”

Brigham Young quarterback Jake Retzlaff has been accused of raping a woman at his Utah residence in November 2023.

In a civil lawsuit filed this week in state court in Salt Lake County, a woman identified in documents as Jane Doe alleges that Retzlaff “raped, strangled, and bit” her after she and a friend came over to his place to play the video game “Fortnite.” The claimant is asking for more than $300,000 in damages over claims including assault, battery and “emotional distress, humiliation, embarrassment, mental distress and anxiety.”

Retzlaff’s attorney, Mark Baute, said on Wednesday in a statement to media outlets that Retzlaff is “factually innocent.”

“We look forward to proving that innocence,” Baute said. “Jake’s focus this year will be on football. We don’t try cases in the media, we will respect the process and establish Jake’s innocence through the judicial system.”

Retzlaff played two years at Corona Centennial High before spending a year each at Riverside City College and Golden West College in Huntington Beach. He has played 17 games in two seasons at BYU and led the Cougars to an 11-2 record last year. He has one year of college eligibility remaining.

BYU said in a statement to The Times that it learned about the lawsuit Wednesday.

“The university takes any allegation very seriously, following all processes and guidelines mandated by Title IX,” BYU wrote. “Due to federal and university privacy laws and practices for students, the university will not be able to provide additional comment.”

According to the lawsuit, Doe and Retzlaff met via social media in October and began messaging. They met in person in late November when Retzlaff invited the Salt Lake County resident to his place in Utah County. She and a friend came over “that evening and went to his room to play Fortnite,” the lawsuit states.

The filing states that Doe interacted with “Retzlaff’s friends and teammates” while playing the video game. Later, after her friend left, Doe and Retzlaff were kissing while watching a movie when “Retzlaff began escalating the situation, attempting to touch her breasts and genital area,” according to the complaint.

The lawsuit states that Doe “tried to de-escalate the situation and attempted to slow things down, trying to pull away, and saying ‘wait.’ She did not want to do anything sexual with him.”

Retzlaff’s physical contact started “causing her pain,” the complaint states, and Doe objected — saying “no” and “wait, stop” — and “wanted to leave, but was scared and felt like she could not get away.”

According to the lawsuit, Retzlaff would go on to allegedly pull Doe’s hair, forcefully kiss her, bite her lip (which allegedly caused a cut) and “put his hands around her neck and started to press down so that she could not breathe,” among other alleged actions before raping her.

Doe left after Retzlaff fell asleep, the lawsuit states. She went to a hospital “a few days later,” according to the lawsuit, and had a rape kit performed and photos taken of her injuries. She also spoke with the Provo Police Department but initially did not give Retzlaff’s name because “she was scared and in shock and not ready to confront him,” the lawsuit states.

“At some point after speaking to the police, an officer reached out to her asking for the name because someone else filed a complaint against a football player and the police wanted to see if it was the same person,” the lawsuit states.

“At that point, [Doe] shared Retzlaff’s name, and the Provo police then encouraged her not to do anything because, as they claimed, ‘sexual assault victims never get justice.’”

In a statement released Wednesday night, the Provo Police Department said it “is aware of a civil suit involving an allegation of rape made by an anonymous plaintiff against a BYU football player” but “has not been served any legal filing relating to this civil case.”

The department said it was able “to identify a possible correlating case report” based on the details of the civil case. The initials of the woman who called in that report match those of Retzlaff’s accuser. The Times does not name victims of sexual assault unless they choose to be identified.

“Our records show that on November 27th, 2023, our department received a phone report from a woman … who gave a similar account. She was treated with courtesy and care,” the department stated.

“The complainant in that case was given several opportunities to identify her abuser. She declined to do so, as is her right, and the case was subsequently closed. Collected evidence was examined, and it revealed no actionable investigative leads. Our victim advocates followed up several times to offer services but received no response.”

The department continued: “The civil suit states that Provo Police personnel discouraged the victim from proceeding, by telling her there is no justice for victims of sexual abuse. From everything we have reviewed, this is not true. We have a team of dedicated investigators and victim advocates whose sole mission is to provide justice to victims of sexual abuse. They do not send people away, warning them there is no justice for victims.

“Our Special Victims Unit investigations regularly result in criminal accountability for offenders. We hope the plaintiff chooses to make a statement to further the criminal investigation if desired.”

Chris Brown is facing the music for allegedly smashing a tequila bottle over a music producer’s head at a London nightclub two years ago. The R&B star was arrested in connection to the incident early Thursday, The Times has confirmed.

The Metropolitan Police force said in a Thursday statement that it arrested a 36-year-old man shortly after 2 a.m. in a hotel in Manchester, England, “on suspicion of grievous bodily harm. “ The controversial “Under the Influence” singer, 36, remains in custody. Brown was arrested for his alleged involvement in a February 2023 “incident at a venue in Hanover Square,” the statement said.

Though police did not provide additional details — including the nature of the incident or the venue — the charge echoes allegations music producer Amadou “Abe” Diaw raised against Brown in a civil lawsuit filed in October 2023. Detectives for the Central West Area Basic Command Unit have launched an investigation, the statement added.

A representative for the Grammy winner did not immediately respond to The Times’ request for comment Thursday.

Brown was arrested more than two years after he allegedly “brutally assaulted” Diaw by “beating him over the head” with a bottle of Don Julio 1942 Tequila at the TAPE nighclub in London, according to the lawsuit reviewed by The Times. The complaint, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, accuses Brown of assault and battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The co-defendants include Live Nation, Sony, RCA Records, and another musician, among others.

In the 13-page complaint, Diaw claims he and a friend entered the nightclub and noticed Brown and the other artist “approaching them in a seemingly friendly manner.” The encounter took a turn when Brown allegedly began beating Diaw “on top of the head” with the tequila bottle, striking the top left side of his head three times, the lawsuit said. Diaw claims Brown — whose music career has been marred by numerous allegations of assault (he notably pleaded guilty to assaulting ex-girlfriend Rihanna) — “inflicted severe and lasting injuries” by smashing his head with the bottle and “continued to ruthlessly stomp on” him as he lay unconscious on the nightclub floor following the bottle attack. The other artist who was with Brown also allegedly kicked Diaw in the stomach and legs.

Nightclub staff intervened and brought Diaw out of the venue. Diaw was hospitalized “with lacerations on his head and torn ligaments on his leg,” according to the suit. He continues to suffer “double vision and significant pain in his legs” and needs continued treatment and therapy.

The bottle attack was captured by nightclub surveillance cameras and Metropolitan Police obtained the footage, the complaint said. Diaw also accuses Brown and the other co-defendants of engaging in “defamatory conduct by spreading false rumors about” his clients and claiming he “is a thief in an effort to sabotage professional relationships.”

Diaw seeks an unspecified amount in damages exceeding $25,000 including medical expenses, loss of earnings and other relief deemed appropriate by the court. The next hearing in the case is set for May 30. A jury trial is also set to begin in June 2026, according to a legal database.

Ryan J. Daneshrad, an attorney for Diaw, said in a statement shared with The Times on Thursday: “We can confirm that Chris Brown was involved in an incident with our client, and the injuries sustained are serious.

“We are pursuing all legal remedies to hold him accountable,” Daneshrad added. “At this time, we will let the facts speak for themselves through the proper legal channels.”

Brown’s arrest precedes the kickoff of his Breezy Bowl 20th anniversary tour in June. The performer will launch his slate of live performances on June 8 in Amsterdam. He is set to perform three shows in Manchester on June 15, 16 and 24.

After the European leg of his tour, Brown will come stateside beginning July 30 when he will perform in Miami. The stadium tour will come to Los Angeles at SoFi Stadium on Sept. 13 and 14.