Key Takeaways
- Joseph Sanberg, co-founder of Aspiration Partners, pleads guilty to $248 million wire fraud.
- High-profile investors included Steve Ballmer, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Robert Downey Jr.
- Sanberg faces up to 40 years in prison; sentencing scheduled for February 2026.
Joseph Sanberg, the 46-year-old co-founder of online banking firm Aspiration Partners, has pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud in Los Angeles federal court. Prosecutors say he participated in a scheme that defrauded investors of $248 million.
The environmentally-focused financial services company, which offered carbon credit sales and tree-planting services, had attracted backing from numerous celebrity investors including former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and actors Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert Downey Jr., and Orlando Bloom.
Details of the Fraud Scheme
According to federal prosecutors, Sanberg took deliberate actions to make Aspiration Partners appear more financially stable than it actually was. He used a letter from the company’s audit committee that falsely claimed Aspiration had $250 million in cash and cash equivalents when the company actually had less than $1 million available.
Authorities stated that Sanberg used these misleading financial documents to secure millions of dollars in loans and investments.
SEC Lawsuit and Additional Allegations
Sanberg also faces a lawsuit from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which alleges he recruited friends, colleagues, and others to help exaggerate the company’s financial outlook.
The SEC’s civil complaint states he accomplished this by getting people to sign “letters of intent” with contracts indicating they would regularly pay Aspiration between $25,000 and $750,000 for tree-planting and other environmental services. The SEC said Sanberg assured these individuals they wouldn’t actually have to pay for the services.
The agency added that Aspiration’s financial troubles were affecting Sanberg as early as 2020, when he texted his cofounder and the company’s CEO expressing concern about a possible default.
In his message to his cofounder and Aspiration’s CEO (seen by BI), Sandberg wrote:
