Overview

• Pablo Torre reported that Aspiration paid $1.75 million to Leonard’s KL2 Aspire LLC on Dec. 15, 2022, nine days after a $1.99 million wire from DEA 88 Investments LP, a firm registered to Clippers vice chairman Dennis J. Wong.
• Internal records and former employees said Aspiration was in severe distress, laid off 20% of staff the day of Leonard’s payout, had missed a prior scheduled payment, and marked his disbursements as “critical.”
• The NBA has engaged Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz to run the independent investigation and is reviewing transactional evidence, internal records, and interviews with no set timetable.
• Commissioner Adam Silver said the burden of proof rests with the league and that he would be reluctant to act on a mere appearance of impropriety.
• The Clippers deny any cap circumvention, say Aspiration defrauded Steve Ballmer, and note his 2021 $50 million investment, while possible CBA penalties include fines, forfeited draft picks, contract voiding, and suspensions if violations are proven.