https://t.co/iKssT8bDP6 作者:Mike Vorkunov In March 2023, LA Clippers owner Steve Ballmer invested almost $10 million into financial technology and sustainability services company Aspiration, according to legal filings reviewed by The Athletic and corroborated by a former Aspiration executive. 在2023年3月，洛杉矶快艇拥有者Steve Ballmer又投资给Aspiration这家金融科技与永续 服务公司额外接近10M的金额。这项投资得到了Athletic蒐集的法律文件以及Aspiration合 作高层的证实。 The previously unreported investment came 18 months after Ballmer’s $50 million investment in the firm now at the heart of an NBA investigation into whether Clippers star Kawhi Leonard made a side deal to circumvent the NBA’s salary cap, allegations first reported by the “Pablo Torre Finds Out” podcast last week. 这项先前并未被报导的投资是在Ballmer的50M投资的18个月後。而这家公司如今正成为NBA 调查的核心，调查重点是快艇球星Kawhi Leonard是否曾透过与该公司达成"场外协议"以规 避NBA的薪资上限--这些指控最早是在上周由Pablo Torre Finds Out Podcast爆出。 Ballmer’s $10 million infusion into Aspiration came as the Los Angeles-based company was hemorrhaging cash, laying off employees and struggling to raise funds — and it came just three months after a $1.99 million investment by Dennis Wong, Ballmer’s college roommate and Clippers vice chairman, which was first reported by “Pablo Torre Finds Out” this week. Ballmer对Aspiration 10M的融资发生在这家洛杉矶公司资金流失、裁员并且募资困难的时 期--且这发生在Ballmer的大学室友及快艇的副主席Dennis Wong投资1.99M之後。 According to the podcast’s report, Wong’s investment was soon followed by a $1.75 million payment by Aspiration to Leonard, who signed a $28 million contract with the company in April 2022. 根据该Podcast的报导，Wong投资後不久，Aspiration随即向Kawhi Leonard支付了1.75M。 Leonard在2022年4月与Aspiration签下了一份价值28M的合约。 Ballmer’s 2023 investment was part of a fundraising round made up almost entirely of previous Aspiration investors, with Wong being the lone exception. The company hoped to raise $75 million in fresh money but came up nearly $9 million short. A vast majority of the shares were bought up by Aspiration co-founder Joe Sanberg and Ibrahim AlHusseini, another Aspiration board member. Sanberg later agreed to plead guilty to fraud charges brought by the Justice Department. Ballmer 2023年的投资属於Aspiration当时一轮几乎完全由旧有投资人组成的募资，其中 唯一的新面孔就是Dennis Wong。该公司希望可以凑足75M的资金但最终差了9M。绝大多数 股份由Aspiration共同创办人Joe Sanberg以及董事会成员Ibrahim AlHusseini吞下。其後 ，Sanberg同意承认司法部对其提出的诈欺指控。 Ballmer’s first investment into Aspiration — a $50 million infusion alongside $265 million from OakTree Capital, a prominent financial firm — came in December 2021, three months after Aspiration signed a deal with the Clippers worth more than $300 million to be a founding sponsor of the team’s new arena and its jersey patch partner. The Clippers also signed an agreement to pay Aspiration more than $50 million for carbon offsetting toward the goal of becoming carbon neutral, according to multiple sources briefed on the deal. 至於 Ballmer的首次投资，则是在2021年12月，与知名金融公司OakTree Capital一起注入 资金，Ballmer投了50M，OakTree则投资265M。这笔投资发生在Aspiration与快艇签下一份 超过300M合约的三个月之後，该合约让Aspiration成为快艇新球馆的创始赞助商以及球衣 广告合作夥伴。此外，多方消息指出，快艇还与Aspiration签署协议，承诺支付超过50M， 用於碳抵换，以帮助球队达成碳中和目标。 Seven months later, Aspiration inked Leonard to a four-year, $28 million endorsement contract. Almost immediately, Aspiration struggled to make its quarterly $1.75 million payments to Leonard, and when the company was late with a payment that fall, Leonard’s agent, Mitch Frankel, reached out to company executives. 7个月後，Aspiration与Leonard谈了4年28M的赞助合约。而几乎是同时，Aspiration无法 支付他每季该给Leonard的1.75M款项，而当公司无法支付时，Leonard的经纪人Mitch Frankel(所以这份代言合约并没有绕过Kawhi的经纪人与舅舅直接签约)联络了公司高管。 In December 2022, Wong invested almost $2 million in Aspiration through DEA 88 Investments LLP. Days later, according to reporting by “Pablo Torre Finds Out,” Aspiration paid Leonard $1.75 million. 在2022年12月，Wong透过DEA 88 Investment LLP投资了将近2M。数天後，便支付了 Leonard 1.75M。 Three months later, according to court documents in a civil suit, Ballmer invested $9,999,997.92 in the company. Aspiration had been struggling financially, with just $12.2 million in cash as of Feb. 17, 2023 and running through more than $2 million a week. The Clippers declined to comment on the March 2023 investment. 3个月後，根据法庭文件，Ballmer额外投资$9,999,997.92至该家公司。Aspiration当时资 金挣扎，2023年2月17日时在他们手上的现金仅剩下12.2M但他们每周要烧掉超过2M。快艇 对这项投资拒绝发表评论。 It’s unclear if Aspiration continued paying Leonard, who is listed as a creditor in Aspiration’s bankruptcy filings for $7 million, as are two companies representing the Clippers for a combined $50 million. Aspiration有没有继续支付Leonard这名列在Aspiration破产文件上的债权人之一，这件事 情并不清楚，然後在该文件上有2家公司代表快艇仍被积欠50M。 Long before the relationship between Leonard and Aspiration fell under public scrutiny, it caused confusion within the company itself, according to ex-employees who spoke with The Athletic. After Sanberg introduced the idea, members of Aspiration’s executive team believed Leonard’s deal, which was never announced publicly, held little value to the company. A former Aspiration C-Suite executive said that the deal “materialized essentially out of the ether.” 根据前员工给The Athletic的说法，早在Leonard与Aspiration的关系进入公众检视之前， 它就在公司内部引起了混乱。前员工回忆，这笔合作是由Sanberg提出来的，但Aspiration 的高层团队对这笔交易的价值表示怀疑，因为这笔从未公开宣布的合约几乎对公司没有实 际帮助。一名前Aspiration的高层主管直言，这份协议"基本上就是凭空冒出来的"。 As part of the deal, Leonard also received $20 million in equity via Aspiration shares that came directly from Sanberg. “I am personally contributing stock to Kawhi to make this partnership possible,” Sanberg wrote members of his leadership team in a May 2022 email obtained by The Athletic. “Aspiration’s CEO judged the deal to be not worth doing. For avoidance of doubt, any and all benefit to Aspiration from the Kawhi deal is being subsidized by my contributing my equity to make this happen.” 作为协议的一部分，Leonard同时也自Sanberg那边直接收取了价值20M的股票。 在2022年5月的一封电子邮件中，Sanberg对管理团队写道： "我正在个人出让股票给Kawhi，以促成这项合作。Aspiration的CEO判断这笔交易不值得去 做。为了避免误解，Kawhi交易中Aspiration所得到的任何利益，都是由我拿出自己的股权 来补贴、实现的。" As part of the agreement, Sanberg also pressured the company to pay for fees incurred by Frankel, who did not respond to The Athletic‘s request for comment. 作为协议的一部分，Sanberg同时施压公司支付定时的款项给Frankel(Kawhi的经纪人)，他 并未回应The Athletic的访问要求。 While Aspiration executives initially traded ideas on how to incorporate Leonard in marketing campaigns — including in collaboration with Drake, a celebrity client and endorser — it never did so. One executive believed the famously laconic Leonard did not fit as a spokesperson. 根据The Athletic的前员工描述，虽然Aspiration高层起初讨论过如何把Leonard纳入行销 企划，甚至考虑与Drake(当时的名人客户兼代言人)合作，但这些计画最终都没有落实。其 中一位高层认为，Leonard以他着名的沉默寡言形象，并不适合作为品牌的代言人。 The contract specified that Leonard would, among other asks, participate in one eight-hour day of production, one four-hour day of public relations, two one-hour community service events, one five-minute segment per week “in conversation with (Clippers) Coach Ty Lue” while he sat out the 2021-22 season recovering from an injury, “five organic comments/likes/RTs as requested by Aspiration” and three off-court projects. 这份合约要求Leonard将要参与一天8小时的制作日、一天4小时的公关活动、两天1小时的 社区服务活动、每周一段五分钟的对谈"与快艇教练Ty Lue对话"因为他21-22年正在从伤势 复健、"5次Aspiration要求的有机的评论/按赞/转发"及三个场外专案。 But the deal, which allowed Aspiration to terminate it for cause or if Leonard was no longer playing for the Clippers, also gave Leonard sign-off on the requests and allowed him to refuse to do anything “not consistent with his beliefs.” 这份合约允许Aspiration在有正当理由的情况下，或是当Leonard不再效力於快艇时，终止 合约。同时，它也赋予Leonard对所有要求的最终签核权，并允许他拒绝任何"不符合其信 念"的事项。 Emails between Aspiration executives obtained by The Athletic reflected confusion and frustration with the contract. One marketing executive emailed that the deal had “pretty big flags” while bemoaning that it only guaranteed Aspiration one eight-hour production day, adding that Leonard’s lack of social media presence would “significantly hamper” the company’s ability to extract value from the deal. The Athletic取得Apiration高层之间的Email展示出了他们对该合约的困惑及沮丧。一名 行销高层在email中叙述这份合约"有很多不好的讯号"，并抱怨合约只保证Aspiration获得 一天8小时的制作日;他还补充指出，Leonard缺乏社群媒体存在感，将"大幅削弱"公司从这 份合约中提取价值的能力。 When reached by The Athletic this week, Andrei Cherny, Aspiration’s co-founder and CEO until 2022, disputed that Leonard had a no-show contract. He said the beliefs clause is standard for celebrity endorsements and that the company could end the agreement if Leonard didn’t perform on his end. 本周The Athletic联系时，Aspiration共同创办人兼前任CEO(至2022年)Andrei Cherny否 认Leonard签署的是一份"挂名合约"。他表示，合约中的"信念条款"对名人代言来说属於标 准条款，而如果Leonard没有履行自己的一方义务，公司也有权终止协议。 “In the months of discussion among our executives before signing the sponsorship, I don’t remember conversations about the NBA salary cap,” Cherny said. “I signed the contract shortly before I submitted my resignation, but before I left there were numerous internal conversations about the various things Aspiration was planning to do with Leonard once the 2022-23 season began, including emails from the marketing team about their plans in just the week before my last day. I can’t speak to what was done or not done after I left — or why.” "在我们高层之间为了这份赞助合约讨论的数个月里，我不记得有任何关於NBA薪资上限的 对话。我在递交辞呈前不久签下了这份合约，但在我离开前，内部有过多次讨论，内容涉 及Aspiration打算在2022-23赛季开始後与Leonard一起做的各种事情，其中包括行销团队 在我最後一周还寄来的计划邮件。至於我离开之後有没有执行、或为什麽没有执行，那我 就无法评论了。" The contract was, however, much richer than Aspiration’s deals with other endorsers, according to the former executive who related that Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert Downey Jr. both received less than $2 million in equity, while Drake invested $4 million but also received carbon offsets. 根据前高层主管的说法，这份合约确实比 Aspiration 与其他代言人的合约更为丰厚。他 指出，Leonardo DiCaprio和Robert Downey Jr.各自获得的股权都不到2M，而Drake虽然投 入了4M的投资，但同时获得了碳排放额度补偿。相比之下，Leonard的合约条件要优渥得多 。 Leonard never publicly promoted the company. 然而，值得注意的是，Leonard从未公开替Aspiration宣传过。 In March 2025, Sanberg was arrested and Aspiration filed for bankruptcy. Sanberg has agreed to plead guilty to federal charges of defrauding investors for $248 million. His next plea hearing is next week. An attorney for Sanberg declined to comment. 2025年3月，Sanberg被逮捕，Aspiration宣告破产。根据法院纪录，Sanberg已同意对诈骗 投资人248M的联邦指控认罪。他的下一场认罪听证会将在下周举行。至於案件细节， Sanberg的律师拒绝发表评论。 In August, the Securities and Exchange Commission alleged that Sanberg inflated the company’s revenue and duped investors, using Aspiration shares to take out more than $100 million in personal loans. The SEC’s complaint pointed specifically to two investors, including one who bought $50 million in shares between September and December 2021. 2024年8月，美国证券交易委员会指控Sanberg夸大公司营收并欺骗投资人，利用 Aspiration的股票取得超过100M的个人贷款。在SEC的起诉书中，特别点名了两位投资人， 其中一人於2021年9月至12月期间购买了价值50M的股票。(这50M很有可能指的就是Ballmer ) Aspiration employees said that Sanberg built and maintained a relationship with Ballmer to convince him to invest in the company. During a deposition last October, when the Aspiration co-founder was asked whether he was the one who landed Ballmer as an investor, Sanberg invoked his fifth amendment rights. Aspiration的员工表示，Sanberg与Ballmer建立并维持关系，目的是说服後者投资公司。 在去年10月的一次证词记录中，当Aspiration联合创办人被问到是否由他亲自拉拢Ballmer 成为投资人时，Sanberg援引了美国宪法第五修正案的权利(沉默避免自证其罪）。 “They conned me,” Ballmer told ESPN last week. “I made an investment in these guys, thinking it was on the up and up, and they con me. At this stage, I have no ability to predict why they might have done anything they did, let alone the specific contract with Kawhi.” Ballmer对ESPN说:"他们骗了我。我投资这些人，以为是一笔正当的生意，结果他们耍我。 到目前为止，我完全无法预测他们为什麽要做出这些事情，更不用说是跟Kawhi有关的那份 特定合约了。" Last week, the NBA announced it had hired law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, which has previously conducted league investigations into the Clippers and Phoenix Suns, to determine if Ballmer and the Clippers used Aspiration to circumvent salary cap restrictions. Ballmer has denied wrongdoing and said that aside from introducing Leonard to the company, he did not know anything about Leonard’s endorsement contract. NBA上周宣布已聘请Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz律师事务所来调查快艇是否透过 Aspiration规避薪资上限。这家律所过去也曾主导过快艇Donald Sterling案和太阳Robert Sarver案的联盟调查。Ballmer否认不当行为并说他除了介绍Leonard至这家公司以外，他 并不知道关於Leonard赞助合约的任何事情。 If, after the investigation and a ruling by an independent arbitrator, NBA commissioner Adam Silver determines the Clippers broke league rules, he has the ability under the collective bargaining agreement to punish the team and Ballmer by docking draft picks, implementing fines and even voiding Leonard’ s deal. 如果在独立调查之後NBA总裁Adam Silver真的认定快艇破坏了联盟规则，他根据CBA将会有 能力没收选秀权、罚款甚至是作废Leonard的合约。 At a news conference Wednesday following an NBA board of governors meeting, Silver said he will look for more than the “appearance of impropriety” to penalize the team, adding that the burden of proof is on the league. “I think the goal of a full investigation is to find out if there really was impropriety,” Silver said. “In a public-facing sport, the public at times reaches conclusions that later turn out to be completely false. I would want anyone else in situations Mr. Ballmer is in now — and Kawhi, for that matter — to be treated the same way I would want to be treated if people were making allegations against me. We’re not a court of law at the end of the day, either.” 在周三NBA董事会会议後的新闻发布会上，Silver表示，他将寻找的不仅仅是"不当行为的 表象"，才会对球队进行处罚，并补充说举证责任在於联盟。 Silver说道:"我认为完整调查的目标是要弄清楚是否真的存在不当行为。在一个公开的运 动里，大众有时会得出一些结论，但後来却被证明完全是错的。我希望任何处在Mr. Ballmer和Kawhi这样情境中的人，都能被一视同仁，就像如果有人对我提出指控时，我也 希望能受到同样对待一样。最终，我们并不是法院。" 心得: 基本上 Torre(原本爆料的人)大翻车 1. Ballmer在公司快倒的时候又丢10M进去烧 Wong可能是他後来又多拉下水的新投资人 2. Cherny(前任CEO)表示高层内部从未提过这合约要绕过薪资上限 3. Sanberg给Kawhi 20M的股票很有可能跟28M是同一笔(也有可能是分开 但Email看起来是 说我负责这样) 是为了要让公司其他高层闭嘴 所以自己拿出20M价值的股票给Kawhi (Kawhi的烂约是他签的) 4. Kawhi的代言合约被视为溢价烂约(跟他的NBA合约一样 没) 但是如果他都没做事 Aspiration一直都可以不给钱 所以并不是Torre说的不用做事的合约 而是Aspiration方 根本不知道要怎麽透过Leonard打广告 5. 那个被Aspiration骗然後是受害人的很有可能真的就是Ballmer 那50M被视为罪款 6. 维持Ballmer/Kawhi的关系很有可能是要骗Ballmer更多的钱(也的确骗到了) 7. 合约不是舅舅Uncle Dennis Robertson独立签的 Kawhi的经纪人清楚知道这张合约的存 在 --

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