Aspiration Partners Inc was a environmentally conscious financial services company that defrauded hundreds of millions of dollars out of multiple investors. The company operated like a bank offering products like savings accounts and debit cards with cash back for buying from an Eco friendly business. They also offered customers with debit cards to add a dollar to any purchase they make to plant a tree.
Founded by Joe Sandberg an entrepreneur and Andrei Cherney a former speechwriter for President Bill Clinton in 2013. They were using their status in the company to scam multiple investors. Many were attracted to the company’s pro environment stance as well as the profitability from investing in the company. The company got big for their “Aspiration Impact Measurement” that gave a score to companies based on their treatment to people and the planet. When debit card holders shopped at these high AIM scoring business the card holders would get some money back. That Eco friendly persona was used as a mask for the founders to scam high profile investors.
The company’s most profitable product were selling carbon credits to mainly fortune 500 companies with a large carbon footprint. A carbon credit is a removal or compensation of a metric ton of CO_2 in the atmosphere. This can be done by either ecological conservation measures or from renewable energy.
Speaking with Chabot professor on geology Jasmeet Singh on how carbon is trapped in the atmosphere, “So what I like to like remember is that it is yesterday’s carbon, or not yesterday but 60 million years ago, 180 million years ago, whatever time you’re talking about, it is yesterday’s carbon that we’re releasing into the atmosphere. And today’s carbon is not, our today carbon cycle is not equipped to handle that level of carbon.” She is describing how carbon is trapped in the atmosphere from present day burning of coal or oil. She also spoke on the various carbon offsetting practices and technologies that exist to combat carbon offsetting. She made a case for the burden of carbon offsetting being on the government instead of the consumer as it is today, “I think a lot of the carbon issues are that we’re putting too much burden on the consumer, whereas the government should be subsidizing this if they really care, because it’s our kids’ futures. So I mean, it’s your future.”
The founders as well as a few other co conspirators were arrested on charges stemming from fraud and embezzlement in August of this year. The accusations were made public earlier that month when Pablo Torre of The Athletic released a podcast making these actions public. The podcast investigation focused on the partnership between Aspiration and the Los Angeles Clippers. The investigation found a possible salary cap circumvention scheme through defaulted payments to Clippers player Kawhi Leonard. The NBA announced an ongoing investigation into this alleged salary cap circumvention. The NBA also announced that the Clippers will still host the All Star game while the investigation is ongoing.
A company that takes advantage of a consumers attraction to environmentally friendly products leaves room for suspicion on any other profitable company with similar business models. A company that has ties to the democratic party leaves a sour taste as the parallels to the party, who uses an environmentally friendly image that does not meet up to what they promise.
