Los Angeles (United States) (AFP) – The former chief executive of the company that allegedly inked NBA star Kawhi Leonard to a phony endorsement deal to help the Clippers skirt the salary cap says reports of the contract are “false”. Andrei Cherny, who left the company Aspiration in 2022, said in a statement on X on Friday that Leonard, who reportedly signed a four-year deal worth $28 million in 2021 to market and endorse the company but never did so, had “extensive” obligations.
“The contract contained three pages of extensive obligations that Leonard had to perform,” Cherny, who left Aspiration in 2022, wrote. “And the contract clearly said that if Leonard did not meet those obligations, Aspiration could terminate the contract.” The NBA is investigating the matter after journalist Pablo Torre reported that a purported Aspiration employee told him the payment to Leonard was to get around NBA salary cap rules. The Clippers, and Ballmer himself, have vigorously denied the claim.
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Ballmer invested $50 million in Aspiration in 2021 and the Clippers announced a $300 million sponsor partnership with the company two weeks later. In an interview with ESPN, Ballmer said this week that he himself had been “conned” by Aspiration, as had other investors. In his statement on X, Cherny said he signed the contract with Leonard in 2022. The Clippers had signed a four-year contract extension with Leonard in August 2021.
“In the months of discussion among our executives before signing the sponsorship, I don’t remember conversations about the NBA salary cap,” Cherny said. “I signed the contract shortly before I submitted my resignation, but before I left there were numerous internal conversations about the various things Aspiration was planning to do with Leonard once the 2022-23 season began… I can’t speak to what was done or not done after I left — or why.”
Aspiration, a financial technology and sustainability services company, filed for bankruptcy this year and co-founder Joe Sanberg pleaded guilty in August on two counts of wire fraud. The US Justice Department said Sanberg used his position at Aspiration to defraud investors and lenders of more than $248 million. NBA commissioner Adam Silver said Wednesday that it would be up to the investigators hired by the league to prove impropriety on the part of the Clippers.
© 2024 AFP
