Jump to content

Aspiration, Inc.

Add links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Aspiration
TypePrivate
IndustryFinance
Founded2013
Founder
Headquarters
Los Angeles, California
Area served
United States
Websitecdn.aspiration.com

Aspiration was a sustainability-as-a-service company with global operations based in Los Angeles, California.[1] In March 2025, after co-founder Joe Sanberg was arrested and charged with fraud, the company went into bankruptcy, with all of its assets liquidated by July. In October 2025, Sanberg pleaded guilty to defrauding investors and banks out of US$248 million.[2][3] Sanberg inflated Aspiration's revenue numbers by concealing that revenue booked to external customers was in fact from entities controlled by Sanberg, and, along with board member Ibrahim AlHusseini created false bank statements in order to fraudulently obtain $145 million in loans.[2][3]

History

[edit]

Aspiration was founded in 2013 by Andrei Cherny and Joseph Sanberg.[4][5][6] It opened for business in February 2015.[7]

As of May 2020, Aspiration had raised over $250 million in funding.[8][9][10]

In August 2021, Aspiration announced that it would go public on the New York Stock Exchange by merging with the special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) InterPrivate III Financial Partners in a $2.3 billion merger. Ahead of the merger, Oaktree Capital Management and investment affiliates of billionaire Steve Ballmer committed $315 million in additional financing to Aspiration.[11]

In October 2022, Olivia Albrecht succeeded Andrei Cherny as CEO of Aspiration.[12]

In January 2024, the United States Department of Justice and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission launched an investigation into the firm's claims to have planted 35 million trees to offset carbon emissions. Cherny told ProPublica that only 12 million trees had been planted.[13] Bloomberg reported that authorities were reviewing Cherny's and Sanberg's actions as part of the probe.[13][14]

On March 31, 2025, Aspiration Partners filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after it was reported that its co-founder was arrested and facing felony fraud charges.[15] The company plans to shed most of its debt and sell itself to creditors.[16] In July 2025, the company converted its Chapter 11 case to a Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation after selling all of its available assets.[17]

On September 3, 2025, Pablo S. Torre reported on his podcast that Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer and the team used Aspiration as a means of paying player Kawhi Leonard an extra $28 million, circumventing the NBA salary cap, and that the company offered more than Intuit to own the naming rights to the Intuit Dome.[18][19] In November, 2025, Torre reported 11 Aspiration investors were suing Ballmer for allegedly using the company to funnel money to Kawhi Leonard.[20]

In October 2025, co-founder Joe Sanberg pleaded guilty to defrauding investors and banks out of $248 million.[2][3] Sanberg inflated Aspiration's revenue numbers by concealing that revenue booked to external customers was in fact from entities controlled by Sanberg, and, along with board member Ibrahim AlHusseini created false bank statements in order to fraudulently obtain $145 million in loans.[2][3] AlHusseini pleaded guilty in March.[2][3]

In April 2026, Ballmer sent a letter to the judge sentencing Sanberg, arguing against leniency in Sanberg's potential two 17 year sentences, stating that Ballmer was defrauded out of $60 million and has suffered immense reputational harm from Sanberg's use of Ballmer's name as an investor in Aspiration to con others into investing in Aspiration.[21] On June 1, 2026, U.S. district judge Stephen Victor Wilson sentenced Sanberg to 14 years in federal prison.[22]

Products

[edit]

In April 2017, the company launched a feature on its mobile app called Aspiration Impact Measurement (AIM), which examined 75,000 data points, and showed scores for companies where Aspiration customers shopped, based on how those companies treat people and the planet.[23][24] Each Aspiration customer was also given a personal AIM score based on their purchasing behavior.[25]

In November 2015, the company launched the Aspiration Redwood Fund.[26] Aspiration said the mutual fund did not invest in companies involved in the alcohol, tobacco, arms and military, nuclear power, gambling, pornography, and oil and gas industries.[27] However, the fund owned shares in several companies that heavily use fossil fuels. Almost 3% of the fund's holdings were in Southwest Airlines's stocks, which had emitted 12.6 million tons of greenhouse gases in 2020; in contrast, only 2.3% of the fund's holdings were in sustainable energy stocks. The fund also owned shares of MSA Safety, a company making safety products for the military and fossil fuel industry.[27]

The company allowed its customers to name their own checking and investing fees through its "Pay What Is Fair" initiative.[28][29]

Aspiration launched a feature called "Plant Your Change" in April 2020 that allowed customers to round up any transaction to the nearest dollar to plant one tree.[30] By April of the following year, Aspiration customers collectively helped plant over 10 million trees.[31]

Launched in March 2021, the Aspiration Zero credit card offered cash-back rewards and allowed cardholders to offset their carbon footprint by turning every purchase into a newly planted tree.[32] But in April 2023, the company announced the cards would be discontinued and the accounts closed the following month[33][34] telling customers, "We've [Aspiration] made the difficult decision to discontinue the Aspiration Zero credit card program as we evaluate the best solutions for delivering positive climate action."[35]

Recognition

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ↑ "CORRECTING and REPLACING Qatar Free Zones and Aspiration Join Forces to Bring Sustainability Services to the MENA Region". www.businesswire.com. November 22, 2021. Retrieved October 30, 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Orange County man agrees to plead guilty to $248-million fraud scheme". Los Angeles Times. 2025-08-21.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "Orange County man pleads guilty to role in $248M fraud scheme". NBC Los Angeles. 2025-10-20.
  4. ↑ "Aspiration's Big Idea in Financial Services? Name Your Own Price". Inc.com. 15 June 2017.
  5. ↑ "How I Made It: He dreamed of a career in politics. Now he's shaking up consumer banking". Los Angeles Times. 2019-07-21. Retrieved 2020-05-07.
  6. ↑ "Digital banking startup Aspiration seeks new funding round". Reuters. 2019-04-17. Retrieved 2020-05-07.
  7. ↑ Belanger, Lydia (21 June 2017). "Why This Former White House Aide Thinks People Deserve More From Banks". Entrepreneur.
  8. ↑ Mashayekhi, Rey. "Exclusive: Neo-bank Aspiration raises $135M in Series C funding round". Fortune.
  9. ↑ Dave, Paresh. "China's Renren leads $15.5-million investment in L.A. start-up Aspiration". Los Angeles Times.
  10. ↑ Martin, Scott. "Aspiration Taps $47 Million for Conscientious Banking". Wall Street Journal.
  11. ↑ "Oaktree, Ballmer Bet $315 Million on Aspiration Pre-Merger". Bloomberg. December 15, 2021.
  12. ↑ "Aspiration Announces Olivia Albrecht as CEO". Bloomberg. October 13, 2022.
  13. 1 2 Gersony, Laura (January 20, 2024). "The eco-friendly company this Arizona congressional candidate co-founded is under federal scrutiny". The Arizona Republic. Retrieved 6 February 2024.
  14. ↑ "US Probes Firm Tapped to Turn LA's New Basketball Arena Green". Bloomberg.com. 2024-01-18. Retrieved 2024-01-30.
  15. ↑ Elgin, Ben (March 5, 2025). "Climate Finance Unicorn Co-Founder Arrested on Fraud Charges". Bloomberg News. Retrieved August 19, 2025.
  16. ↑ Church, Steven; Randles, Jonathan (March 31, 2025). "Climate Firm That Partnered With Meta, Microsoft Goes Bankrupt". Bloomberg. Retrieved April 10, 2025.
  17. ↑ Cameron, Emlyn (2025-07-14). "Aspiration Partners Seeks Conversion Of Ch. 11 To Ch. 7". Law360. Retrieved 2026-02-22.
  18. ↑ Vardon, Joe; Amick, Sam (September 3, 2025). "Kawhi Leonard, Clippers used endorsement deal to 'circumvent' NBA salary cap: Report". The Athletic. The New York Times. Retrieved September 3, 2025.
  19. ↑ "NBA says it will open investigation into report that Clippers broke cap rules with Leonard deal". AP News. September 3, 2025. Retrieved September 3, 2025.
  20. ↑ "Steve Ballmer Facing New Lawsuit Related to Kawhi Leonard-Aspiration Scandal". SI. 2025-11-04. Retrieved 2025-11-04.
  21. ↑ Henson, Steve (2026-04-23). "Steve Ballmer blasts Aspiration co-founder Joe Sanberg's bid for leniency ahead of sentencing". Los Angeles Times.
  22. ↑ Holmes, Baxter (1 June 2026). "Aspiration co-founder Sanberg sentenced to 14 years in prison". ESPN.com.
  23. ↑ "This App Guilts You Into Not Buying From Crummy Companies". WIRED.
  24. ↑ "A radical finance firm has an app that'll show you the impact of all of your purchases". Business Insider (in German).
  25. ↑ "Are Your Buying Habits Remotely Ethical? This Bank Account Will Tell You". Fast Company. 26 April 2017.
  26. ↑ Richards, William (November 17, 2015). "How to Invest in Sustainable Practices". TheStreet. Archived from the original on February 9, 2021. Retrieved November 20, 2021.
  27. 1 2 Kessler, Carson (November 17, 2021). "The Celebrity-Backed Green 'Fintech' Company That Isn't as Green as It Seems". ProPublica. Archived from the original on November 18, 2021. Retrieved November 20, 2021.
  28. ↑ "The 'Pay-What-You-Want' Money Manager That Profits From Your Tips". Inc.com. 20 July 2015.
  29. ↑ "Wells Fargo Is Asking Customers To "Put Your Money Where Your Heart Is," And This Startup Is Pissed". BuzzFeed News. 6 October 2017.
  30. ↑ Haworth, Jack (21 October 2020). "New Program Helps Consumers Plant a Tree With Every Purchase For Only Pennies". Men's Journal.
  31. ↑ "Aspiration Zero is the first credit card to 'eliminate' users carbon footprint: CEO". Yahoo.com. 22 April 2021.
  32. ↑ "LA's socially conscious bank challenger, Aspiration, launches a carbon offset credit card". TechCrunch. 24 March 2021.
  33. ↑ "Aspiration Discontinuing Zero Credit Card, Continues Pivot". Fioney. April 10, 2023. Retrieved April 22, 2023. The climate-conscious FinTech Aspiration is making some changes. This week, the company announced that it was discontinuing its Aspiration Zero credit card.
  34. ↑ "Aspiration launches first credit card: Earn cash back and plant trees with every purchase". CNBC. April 11, 2023. Retrieved April 22, 2023. Aspiration has discontinued the Aspiration Zero credit card and will be closing accounts on May 3, 2023.
  35. ↑ "What do I need to know about Aspiration Zero being discontinued?". Aspiration. April 20, 2023. Retrieved April 22, 2023.
  36. ↑ "The Best Bank for Cash and Credit Card Users". MONEY. October 5, 2015. Archived from the original on November 12, 2018. Retrieved November 13, 2018.
  37. ↑ "Aspiration: Most Innovative Company". Fast Company. Retrieved 2017-11-21.
  38. ↑ "The 25 Most Disruptive Companies of the Year". Inc.com. 2017.
  39. ↑ "Best Personal Loans For Good Credit". Money Under 30. 5 July 2023.
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Aspiration,_Inc.&oldid=1364142319"