Steve Ballmer blasts founder he backed who pleaded responsible to fraud: ‘I used to be duped and really feel foolish’

Silicon Valley tends to tolerate a certain quantity of founder exaggeration when pitching buyers, usually dismissing it as a part of promoting a imaginative and prescient. However some decisions cross the road and may result in jail time for founders and scandal for his or her buyers.

A working example is Joseph Sanberg, whose as soon as high-flying fintech startup Aspiration Companions was backed by a roster of tech celebrities, together with former Microsoft CEO and present Clippers proprietor Steve Ballmer. In August 2025, Sanberg pleaded responsible to 2 counts of wire fraud and defrauding a number of buyers and lenders, the U.S. Division of Justice said in a press release. Every rely carries a most sentence of 20 years in jail.

Forward of sentencing, which is scheduled for Monday, victims have been invited to explain their expertise with Sanberg to the decide. Ballmer did so, and publicly. Ballmer’s attorneys mentioned within the letter that he has misplaced cash, been vilified, and that the NBA is investigating allegations stemming from the affiliation.

Sanberg co-founded inexperienced fintech startup Aspiration Companions, which provided what it known as sustainable banking companies like bank cards and funding merchandise that averted fossil fuels. The startup promised to “mechanically plant bushes with each card buy.” In 2021, it introduced plans to go public through a SPAC merger at a value of $2.3 billion, although that transaction never occurred.

The DOJ alleged that Aspiration booked and acknowledged income from entities held by Sanberg, who made the corporate seem as if it had a gentle stream of consumers and income that it didn’t even have. The company additional alleged he defrauded buyers by displaying them a fabricated letter from Aspiration’s audit committee that mentioned the corporate had $250 million in obtainable money and equivalents when it had lower than $1 million. The DOJ alleged that Sanberg, together with a board member who additionally pleaded responsible, falsified monetary information to acquire $145 million in loans.

When Ballmer shared his letter on X, asking the decide to contemplate the hurt achieved to him in sentencing, he wrote, “I used to be duped and really feel foolish about that. Everybody who believed in Aspiration, together with staff, prospects and buyers, was additionally duped. Everybody continues to be tallying the losses.”

The letter says that Ballmer invested a complete of $60 million within the firm, and misplaced all of it. Ballmer was not solely an investor, however had contracted with Aspiration to offer carbon-offsetting applications for the Clippers and its stadium. Aspiration additionally turned a significant Clippers sponsor.

The billionaire mentioned within the letter that not solely did he lose that cash, his fame was negatively affected. He used the letter to disclaim the reporting of a multi-part collection from famed sports activities podcast Pablo Torre Finds Out that delved into the connection between the Clippers and Aspiration. The podcast made allegations that Aspiration helped sidestep the wage cap for a star Clippers participant. Ballmer’s attorneys known as these allegations “misapprehension or intentional disregard of the info,” within the letter.

Ballmer’s letter additionally mentioned that because of the affiliation with this firm, the podcast and different public consideration of it, he’s been named in lawsuits. In the meantime, the NBA mentioned in its personal letter concerning Sanberg’s sentencing that it’s investigating the wage cap allegations and Sanberg has been offering proof, ESPN reported.

Whereas the basketball world is embroiled in all of those downstream developments, the message founders can take from it’s clear: If one fabricates monetary paperwork to lift capital, the result will very doubtless be jail.

The Ballmer Group didn’t reply to our request for remark.