Pablo Torre has continued his investigation on the Los Angeles Clippers and them paying Kawhi Leonard under the table with a fraudulent tree company called Aspiration. The company filed for bankruptcy in March 2025 after the cofounder was arrested on fraud charges.

Torre has found more bank records showing that the Clippers made investments in Aspiration, and this time he revealed that the team bailed out the company with a $21M deal signed by the CFO two weeks before Leonard's first “no-show” payday. That money was enough to hit the company's fundraising target and to keep the business afloat two weeks before Leonard's no-show payment was due.

Days ago, Torre found out more information surrounding the Clippers and Aspiration, noting that a $1.99 million investment in December 2022 by Clippers vice chairman Dennis Wong preceded a $1.75 million payment to Leonard from the tree company. The transaction was marked as “critical,” and on the same day, they laid off employees.

The former employees told Torre that the timing of the $1.99 million investment was “beyond shocking.”

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Things got deeper when it was revealed Ballmer invested nearly $10 million in Aspiration in March 2023, which was months after Wong’s transaction.

Many people are surprised that these details are coming out about Ballmer, Leonard, and Aspiration, but some former staffers of the team think the end should be near for the Clippers' owner, according to ESPN's Baxter Holmes.

“This last investigation is different,” a former Clippers staffer said. “This one directly calls into question Steve Ballmer's character. At some point, Steve has got to get out of the Kawhi business.”

The NBA has noted that they will be investigating what's been going on, and it's uncertain what will happen if all of this is really true. Some have noted that Leonard's contract could be voided, which would be a big surprise as he's one of the league's current superstars.