Report links Clippers minority investor to late $1.75M payment for Kawhi Leonard
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Los Angeles — A podcast investigation says a limited partner of the LA Clippers wired nearly $2 million to the cash-strapped financial firm Aspiration nine days before the company issued a delayed $1.75 million endorsement payment to forward Kawhi Leonard.
“Pablo Torre Finds Out” reported Thursday that investor Dennis J. Wong sent Aspiration $1.99 million shortly before the company met its past-due obligation to Leonard, part of a four-year, $28 million endorsement agreement struck in April 2022 through Leonard’s LLC, KL2 Aspire.
Aspiration’s ties to the Clippers date to September 2021, when team owner Steve Ballmer invested $50 million through his personal LLC. Two weeks later, the club announced a $300 million sponsorship deal with the firm. Aspiration filed for bankruptcy this March and is under federal investigation for fraud; co-founder Joe Sanberg, 46, pleaded guilty in August to two counts of wire fraud involving more than $248 million.
The NBA has retained New York law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz to examine whether the Clippers or Ballmer violated league rules by enabling an outside entity to compensate Leonard. Commissioner Adam Silver said Wednesday that the league bears the burden of proving any wrongdoing. No timetable for the probe has been set.
An unnamed former Aspiration employee previously told the podcast the endorsement arrangement was intended “to circumvent the salary cap.” The Clippers have rejected that claim. “The allegations have not been true,” Ballmer told ESPN on Sept. 4. In a separate statement Wednesday, the organization called Aspiration “a house of cards that defrauded Steve and many others” and said it is cooperating fully with the NBA.
According to Torre, the endorsement contract allowed the deal to be voided if Leonard left the Clippers and permitted the player to refuse promotional activities while still collecting payment. Under the NBA’s 2023 collective bargaining agreement, proven circumvention can trigger fines up to $7.5 million, draft-pick forfeiture, contract nullification and suspensions of up to one year for involved personnel.
“The notion that Steve invested in Aspiration in order to funnel money to Kawhi Leonard is absurd,” the Clippers said, adding that teams routinely have sponsors sign endorsement deals with their own players.
Source: ESPN
