Sustainability Start-Up Founder Who Is Major Dem Donor Sentenced For Massive Fraud Scheme
Article excerpt
Joseph Sanberg, founder of the sustainability-focused fintech company Aspiration and a major Democratic donor, was sentenced to 14 years in prison Monday for orchestrating a fraud scheme that cost investors and lenders at least $248 million. Sanberg pleaded guilty to fraud-related charges tied to his company's carbon-offset program, which he used as cover for a multi-year deception. The case illustrates how a prominent environmentalist and party fundraiser allegedly exploited his company's green credentials to mask financial misconduct.
A California fraudster used a carbon-offset program to cover up a multi-year scheme that resulted in at least $248 million in losses to investors and lenders.
Joseph Sanberg was sentenced on Monday to 14 years in prison after pleading guilty to fraud-related charges connected to the company’s sustainability business.
Aspiration originally operated as a financial technology company but later expanded into environmental services, including tree-planting and carbon-offset programs that turned out to be fraudulent. Theoretically, businesses could purchase these services to help offset their carbon emissions, but court documents say the intention to actually purchase those services was never there.
Sanberg aligned himself with the Democratic Party in California, personally donating $11 million to back a ballot initiative to raise the state’s minimum wage to $18 an hour, The Daily Wire previously reported. Ultimately, it would be California’s clean energy policies that would allow Sanberg to turn his company into a multi-million dollar fraud scheme.
He labeled himself as an “anti-poverty activist.” Bill Essayli, first assistant U.S. attorney of the Central District of California, said, “This so-called ‘anti-poverty’ activist has admitted to being nothing more than a self-serving fraudster, by seeking to enrich himself by defrauding lenders and investors out of hundreds of millions of dollars.”
Prosecutors allege Sanberg’s “friends and associates” submitted letters of intent from various companies and individuals. Sanberg would then book the letters of intent as revenue, inflating Aspiration’s revenue and profits, which he would in turn use to advertise to investors and obtain millions in new Aspiration investments.
In some cases, Sanberg “went so far as to provide the money to his ‘customers’ which they would then send to Aspiration.”
Court filings in separate litigation have also alleged that several entities connected to Sanberg’s associate, Kfir Gavrieli, signed agreements to purchase large amounts of sustainability services. Those entities allegedly included Gavrieli’s footwear company, a family-owned business, a synagogue, and other individuals or organizations.
Employees raised concerns when the revenue suggested in the letters of intent was not collected. KPMG, one of the country’s largest auditing firms, resigned as Aspiration’s auditor in 2022, citing revenue transactions with characteristics of fraud. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) later alleged that revenue tied to the letters of intent accounted for roughly $44 million of Aspiration’s $100.6 million in reported 2021 revenue. The SEC says that, as a result, Sanberg was able to raise more than $300 million from investors based on the false appearance of Aspiration as a booming sustainability business.
Investigators were struck not only by the size of the alleged purchases, but by who was making them. Having Gavrieli as a customer raised eyebrows because it included organizations and individuals that appeared to have little need for large-scale carbon-offset purchases.
A footwear company, typically, would not be required by California law to buy millions of trees or large volumes of carbon offsets, which caused the government to examine whether these were genuine commercial purchases. Typical participants of California’s carbon-offset program include oil refineries, industrial facilities, and natural gas suppliers.
While Sanberg has already pleaded guilty in the Aspiration fraud case, allegations involving Gavrieli remain the subject of ongoing civil litigation in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Los Angeles. Court filings submitted by Dikla Gavrieli, Kfir’s sister and legal adversary, allege that Gavrieli and several entities connected to him participated in a scheme that helped create the appearance of strong demand for Aspiration’s tree-planting and sustainability services. Gavrieli has not been criminally charged in connection with the Aspiration fraud, and the allegations against him have not yet been proven in court.