There's No Such Thing As A Green Bank Or A Fair Game
Banking is corrupt. Basketball is corrupt. This week's news blows it all out in the open.
“On all levels American society is rigged.” - John Steinbeck
Tree-planting, poverty fighting, fossil-fuel avoiding Joseph Sanberg pleaded guilty to wire fraud charges on Monday.
The charges stem from a $248 million scheme to dupe investors through his allegedly green fintech company, Aspiration.
In 2021, this do-gooder’s upstart bank took out billboards that read, “Clean rich is the new filthy rich.” His company bragged it had planted 35 million trees. His investors included celebrities Leonardo DiCaprio, Orlando Bloom, Robert Downey Jr. and Drake.
Call it integrity theater: Moral branding wrapped around garden variety financial frauds we find across banking industry and all around the world of Big Business.
Prosecutors say Sanberg, 46, faked bank statements, invented phantom revenue, and inflated cash balances while preaching the gospel of sustainability. And when the green in his green bank finally ran out, it filed bankruptcy in March leaving investors in the dirt.
“This so-called ‘anti-poverty’ activist has admitted to being nothing more than a self-serving fraudster,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli in an August press release. “I urge the investing public to use caution and beware of wolves in sheep’s clothing.”
A wolf in sheep’s clothing? More like a dog in a Clippers jersey.
Enter Clippers owner Steve Ballmer, the former Microsoft CEO who was … get this: An early investor in Aspiration.
In 2021, Ballmer inked a $300 million sponsorship deal between the Clippers and Aspiration, and he personally pumped millions into the startup bank.
Later, Aspiration signed Clippers star Kawhi Leonard to a marketing contract worth up to $28 million in cash and $20 million in stock.
For all this loot, Leonard did little more than simply exist. The dude, in fact, has been described charitably as one of the team’s less charismatic players. And it’s not as if the Clippers have the marketing mojo of say, the L.A. Lakers.
On Sunday, The Wall Street Journal reported that the NBA is now investigating whether this no-show contract was really a back-door bonus in violation of its salary-cap rules.
Both Ballmer and the Clippers have denied the allegations. But it sounds like Aspiration may have been the Clipper’s most creative payroll department even as it marketed itself around ethical finance.
And just when sports fans may have been asking, is basketball really this corrupt? …
Chauncey Billups, coach of the Portland Trail Blazers, and Terry Rozier, guard for the Miami Heat, were arrested Thursday in an illegal gambling and poker-rigging probe.
Billups, 49, allegedly played in Mafia-rigged poker games and was indicted among 30 others. We’re talking Bonanno, Gambino, and Genovese organized crime families – just like the movies. He has denied the allegations in the indictment.
Rozier, 31, is accused of leaking insider info to sports bettors, including “medical information and a player’s intention to alter their upcoming game performance.” He has denied the allegations.
Billups isn’t named in the Rozier indictment, but he appears to be implicated in a reference to “Co-Conspirator 8,” described as an Oregon resident who played in the NBA from 1997 to 2014 and has been a coach since 2021.
The NBA suspended them both. And there’s more.
Former NBA player Damon Jones was also arrested on Thursday and is named in both indictments. Other NBA players are also named in the Billups indictment.
How far does all this reach? Almost everywhere.
Consider that most NBA arenas are taxpayer subsidized. You can’t afford a ticket to the game anymore, but you’re paying for the venue and the follies inside.
Consider also that U.S. bettors have wagered more than a half a trillion dollars as sports betting has exploded over the past seven years. But games are thrown and the fix is in.
You can take that to the bank. No, wait. It’s rigged there, too.
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Why would anyone think online 'gaming' would be any different? The Mafia turned gambling into a lucrative businesses model, first with Atlantic City, then Las Vegas, and, ultimately until 1959, Cuba. In an industry where 'insider information' is almost more valuable - and 'actionable' - than securities, why does anyone act surprised when you allow gambling into professional sports - boxing being one of the first, along with horse racing - that corruption (of the game, of players, of managers, of the sport) follows close behind? Luck is one thing. Having an 'edge' on a bet is another. Since Arnold Rothstein fixed the 1919 World Series.
Although there can be no doubt about this widespread fraud uncovered, two things cross my mind. First, although Mr. Patel states that this is "the biggest bust uncovered ever," let's not forgot that there may be other motivating factors...Epstein comes to mind, so hey, great distraction. Not to minimize the issue, but remember, we have "others" doing it to us in plain sight...every day!!