A Marina del Rey company that promised to help the NBA’s Clippers build “the most sustainable arena in the world” is now reportedly facing a possible federal investigation for allegedly misleading customers.
Aspiration agreed to pay the Clippers more than $300 million to be the team’s jersey sponsor and help the under-construction Intuit Dome in Inglewood be more environmentally sustainable, but that deal has fallen through, according to Bloomberg.
Not only is Aspiration no longer a team sponsor, but “investigators from the Justice Department and Commodity Futures Trading Commission are looking into whether Aspiration misled customers about the quality of carbon offsets it was selling, according to people familiar with the matter,” Bloomberg reports.
In 2021, reports in outlets like Forbes touted Aspiration as helping the Clippers and owner Steve Ballmer create “the world’s first climate positive arena.”
However, the company, whose investors CNBC reports include actor Leonardo DiCaprio and former Clippers coach Doc Rivers, is no longer a team sponsor, the Clippers said in a statement that Bloomberg explained did not include a reason “why the agreement was ended.”
“The sponsorship agreement entered into between Aspiration and the LA Clippers was terminated by the team last season,” the statement said. “This [in] no way relieves Aspiration from the obligations they are under contract to provide.”
In a statement to Bloomberg, Aspiration said they “are openly and transparently engaging with the government regarding our company and market standards.”
Aspiration “has delivered carbon credits to the Clippers over the past several years, and based on ongoing obligations will continue to source and deliver credits annually through the last delivery in 2043,” the company added.
