fraud

The sentencing of Aspiration co-founder Joseph Sanberg to 14 years in federal prison on Monday brings the NBA a step closer to concluding its nine-month investigation into the Clippers allegedly circumventing the salary cap.

Sanberg pleaded guilty in October to federal charges of conspiring to bilk investors out of $248 million for portraying the now-defunct Aspiration as a “socially-conscious and sustainable banking services and investment products” firm.

The NBA has declined to comment on the status of the probe centered on $60 million invested in Aspiration by Clippers owner Steve Ballmer and the $28-million contract Clippers star Kawhi Leonard signed with Aspiration for endorsement and marketing work that he never delivered.

Players are allowed to have separate endorsement and other business deals, but at issue is whether the Clippers participated in arranging the side deal beyond simply introducing Aspiration executives to Leonard. Doing so would be a violation of Article 13 of the NBA collective bargaining agreement, punishable by a $4.5-million fine, the loss of a first-round draft pick and the voiding of Leonard’s contract.

The NBA draft takes place June 23-24 and the Clippers have three picks, including the fifth overall selection. The league is not expected to release its findings until after the NBA Finals, which begin Wednesday between the New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs.

Clippers officials haven’t commented on the investigation. But Leonard, who has one year left on a three-year, $149.5-million contract that will pay him $50.3 million next season, told The Athletic after the Clippers’ season-ending game April 15 that “I think we’re going to be in the clear. I’m not stressing.”

Otherwise, among the few public comments about the investigation were letters submitted to federal court judge Stephen V. Wilson ahead of Sanberg’s sentencing by Ballmer and the law firm conducting the probe on behalf of the NBA.

The letter from Dave Anders of Wachtell Lipton stated that Sanberg provided documentation and information helpful to the NBA investigation during two in-person interviews.

“In all our dealings with Mr. Sanberg, both directly and through his counsel, he provided information that was consistent with our review of contemporaneous documents and other evidence,” Anders wrote. “Mr. Sanberg’s cooperation substantially assisted our investigation, including our ability to develop a more complete understanding of key events.”

Ballmer countered by asking Wilson for a stiff sentence in a five-page Victim Impact Statement posted on social media by his lawyer, David N. Kelley.

“Sanberg continues to exploit his fraud of Mr. Ballmer for his benefit, providing information to the NBA in return for a sentencing letter that the league submitted on his behalf,” Kelley wrote. “The reliability of Sanberg’s information is suspect given that he has pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges, and the government has made its own determination that he is not credible.”

Before handing down the sentence, Wilson made it clear that Sanberg’s credibility was questionable.

“He portrays himself as a do-gooder who was in business to help the world, but he did personally gain from his fraud,” Wilson said, later adding, “I would put the grade of his fraud at the zenith.”

Ballmer, a former longtime CEO of Microsoft who has owned the Clippers since 2014, accused Sanberg of targeting him for his well-known interest in environmental sustainability and exaggerating their relationship to convince others to invest in the fraudulent company. He said he met Sanberg only once.

Ballmer invested $50 million in Aspiration in September 2021. A month later, the Clippers announced a $300-million sponsorship deal with the company. Ballmer nearly granted Aspiration naming rights to the team’s new $2-billion venue as well, but instead chose financial services firm Intuit. Ballmer made an additional $10-million investment in Aspiration on March 9, 2023.

Ballmer was added in November as a defendant in a civil lawsuit against Sanberg and several others associated with Aspiration. Ballmer and the other defendants are accused by 11 investors in Aspiration of fraud and aiding and abetting fraud, with the plaintiffs seeking at least $50 million in damages.

Kelley contended that Ballmer was added as a defendant because of his “visibility and resources,” and portrayed the Clippers owner as a victim, saying “Mr. Ballmer’s losses are not measured solely, or even primarily, on a balance sheet. They are measured in the reputational damage that will take years to remediate, and in the chilling effect on future endeavors intended to do good.”

The lone public comment about the investigation from NBA Commissioner Adam Silver came during All-Star Weekend in February at the Intuit Dome when he described the issue as “enormously complex.”

“You have a company in bankruptcy, you have thousands of documents, multiple witnesses that needed to be interviewed,” Silver said.

The investigation was triggered by reports from podcaster Pablo Torre that Leonard’s sponsorship deal with Aspiration was to circumvent the salary cap. Torre and the staff of “Pablo Torre Finds Out” won a Pulitzer Prize for Audio Reporting for their efforts.

June 2 (UPI) — Colombian President Gustavo Petro reiterated allegations Tuesday of possible electoral fraud in the first round of the country’s presidential election, claiming irregularities in the voter registry and vote-counting systems ahead of the June 21 runoff.

In a message posted on X, Petro said he was presenting the “verified basis of possible fraud” and claimed he could submit evidence to the relevant authorities.

Petro said he has evidence of software modifications that allegedly introduced hundreds of thousands of voter identification records that were not properly registered and altered voting tables.

Petro contended that last-minute technical changes to systems operated by Colombia’s National Civil Registry, known as the Registraduria Nacional, resulted in irregularities, including an increase of 885,409 voter identification records in the electoral roll and the appearance of 1,493 additional voting tables that he claimed were not authorized.

He also alleged that the algorithms used in private software for preliminary vote counting and official tabulation were secretly modified three times during the final week of the campaign.

As a result, Petro said, he would only recognize the final official results certified by judicial authorities serving on Colombia’s electoral review commissions.

He said the alleged irregularities benefited far-right candidate Abelardo de la Espriella and harmed his preferred candidate, left-wing Sen. Ivan Cepeda.

After preliminary results showed De la Espriella leading with 43.74% of the vote and Cepeda in second place with 40.90%, Petro said he would not accept the preliminary count and pledged to present evidence to electoral authorities.

Before the election, several polls had projected Cepeda as the frontrunner, although analysts noted a rapid surge in support for De la Espriella during the final weeks of the campaign.

Petro intensified his criticism Tuesday, claiming electoral authorities were seeking to “close the vote count quickly” to avoid reviewing his allegations.

The National Civil Registry reported that the official count had reached 99.98% completion and said final results matched the preliminary count of 99.94%, rejecting claims of widespread manipulation.

According to Colombian media reports, Cepeda significantly softened his position Monday after initially supporting Petro’s concerns on election night.

The candidate of the Historic Pact coalition said that after an extensive review conducted by his monitoring team, no evidence was found of irregularities significant enough to call the legitimacy of the first-round results into question.

Voters will return to the polls June 21 to choose between two sharply different political visions.

De la Espriella, a political outsider associated with what supporters describe as a “new right,” has centered his campaign on public security and advocates a hardline approach to crime inspired by the policies of El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele and Argentine President Javier Milei.

Cepeda, meanwhile, has campaigned on social justice and supports continuing and expanding Petro’s agrarian reform and energy transition agenda, while promoting negotiations with armed groups as part of a broader peace strategy.