A $30 million fine and five forfeited first-round picks spanning 2029 through 2033 set the NBA's accounting of Los Angeles Clippers misconduct. The federal reckoning runs parallel: the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York has opened a criminal investigation into whether the Clippers arranged off-the-books sponsorship deals to compensate Kawhi Leonard beyond the league's salary-cap limits, first reported by The New York Times.
Where the subpoenas are pointing
Prosecutors are focused on a reported $28 million agreement between Leonard and Aspiration Partners, a green finance company that subsequently collapsed into bankruptcy. Aspiration's co-founder, Joe Sanberg, was sentenced to 14 years in federal prison for fraud. A grand jury has already issued at least one subpoena. The Securities and Exchange Commission has also entered the inquiry. Daktronics, the company that supplied displays for the Clippers' Intuit Dome, confirmed that regulators requested records tied to its sponsorship arrangements with Leonard.
The NBA's yearlong review, conducted by the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, concluded the Clippers operated a pattern of misconduct. Owner Steve Ballmer drew a one-year suspension alongside two senior executives. Leonard's uncle and manager, Dennis Robertson, received a five-year NBA ban. Leonard was ordered to pay $700,000 in restitution.
The Clippers denied the findings in full. The franchise said the NBA's investigation was "heavily biased" and designed to "justify a predetermined narrative rather than facts and evidence," and stated it would pursue arbitration.
Competing accounts of Ballmer's exposure
Ballmer's attorney, David Kelley, called the NBA's review a "witch hunt" and a "gross injustice" in a letter to Commissioner Adam Silver. Kelley wrote that league counsel privately acknowledged it does not believe there was an agreement between the Clippers and Aspiration to funnel money to Leonard. He also noted that federal authorities previously determined Ballmer was a victim of Sanberg's fraud rather than a participant.
Leonard said he entered his Clippers contract and outside agreements in good faith, with no knowledge of any effort to circumvent the salary cap. He accepted responsibility for what he called lapses in judgment by people within his inner circle.
Ballmer and the Clippers are weighing a federal lawsuit against the NBA to block the sanctions. Civil proceedings may stall if witnesses invoke Fifth Amendment protections against self-incrimination. The EDNY, which previously pursued major sports integrity cases involving NBA referee gambling and FIFA corruption, declined to comment on the current probe.