Steve Ballmer and the Los Angeles Clippers funded a total of $118 million in Aspiration over an 18-month period, according to new reporting from Pablo Torre. Ballmer invested $10 million in Aspiration as late as March 9, 2023 shortly before the government opened their investigation into the company.
While Ballmer’s $50 million investment in September 2021 and Dennis Wong’s $2 million investment in December 2022 were previously known, Torre uncovered a pair of carbon credit purchases made by the Clippers in April 2022 worth $3 million and $32 million, as well as $21 million in carbon credits in June 2022. The carbon credits were for Intuit Dome, which didn’t open until the second half of 2024.
Mark Cuban previously suggested that if the Clippers wanted to circumvent the NBA salary cap with Aspiration, they could fund the company by buying carbon credits.
“He literally described one of the few ways that the Clippers and Ballmer got money into Aspiration,” said a former Aspiration employee. “He literally described exactly what they did. So he’s right. He’s completely correct. That would be one of the avenues that you would use to circumvent the cap.”