Follow the Money: Ballmer, Kawhi, and Aspiration’s $118M Puzzle

So, the piece of paper I want to address. This letter that you just read, says that the Clippers were withdrawing $21 million to fund carbon projects. The sign at the bottom is the Chief Financial Officer of the Clippers. This, I am told, was enough to pay Kawhi and keep the company afloat two weeks before Leonard’s initial no-show payment was due.”

After the podcast aired, Cuban continued to tweet Torre, saying:

“You are missing the big prize that drove everything. You have your sports brain on. But this really isn’t about sports at all. It’s a story about a guy who defrauded a lot of people and whose only hope of staying out of jail was this merger happening and then the stock price going up. A lot.”

Nobody can say who’s right. Only one thing is certain — the LA Clippers continue to make headlines for the wrong reasons.

Follow the Money: Did Steve Ballmer and the Clippers fund Aspiration?

How far the rabbit hole this investigation goes is anyone’s guess at this point. Nevertheless, Torre has detailed all the payments he’s found that were made between Ballmer, the Clippers, Aspiration, and Leonard. Here’s the complete timeline:

• September 14, 2021 – Steve Ballmer invests $50 million through his company
• September 27, 2021 – Clippers announce Aspiration Deal
• April 1, 2022 – Clippers fund $3 million in carbon credits
• April 4, 2022 – Clippers fund $32 in carbon credits
• June 17, 2022 – Clippers fund $21 million in carbon credits
• July 6, 2022 – Leonard paid $1.75 million
• December 6, 2022 – Wong LLC Invests $2 million in Aspiration
• December 15, 2022 – Leonard paid $1.75 million
• March 9, 2023 – Ballmer LLC Invests $10 million
• Late March 2023 – Government investigation opens about Aspiration

With more receipts popping up weekly, it’ll be no surprise if the Clippers invested more money than they received from Aspiration in their deal.