The legal battle involving Steve Ballmer, owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, is entering a decisive phase. Attorneys for the American billionaire have formally filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit accusing him of taking part in an alleged financial fraud tied to Kawhi Leonard’s contract, rejecting the claims as “sensationalistic” and “manifestly unfounded.”
At the center of the case is Aspiration, a green banking company that collapsed in March 2025, along with a series of investments and sponsorships that, according to the plaintiffs, were designed to circumvent the NBA salary cap.
The lawsuit was initially filed on July 9, 2025, by 11 Aspiration investors, who claim they were defrauded out of millions of dollars by co-founder Joseph Sanberg and other company executives. At first, Ballmer was not named as a defendant.
That changed after a series of investigations by journalist Pablo Torre, which alleged that Ballmer’s investment in Aspiration was part of a parallel payment mechanism for Kawhi Leonard, operating outside NBA regulations.
Based on those reports, on November 3, 2025, the investors submitted an amended complaint, adding Ballmer as a defendant.
According to the filing:
The investors would never have invested in, nor maintained their investment in Aspiration, had Ballmer and Sanberg disclosed the true nature of the operation.
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