More bombshell details drop about alleged fraud involving ex-Toronto Raptors star Kawhi Leonard
More details have emerged on an alleged salary cap circumvention fraud involving former Toronto Raptors star Kawhi Leonard.
According to the self-titled podcast episode Pablo Torre Finds Out that dropped Wednesday from journalist Pablo Torre, Leonard was receiving four years of US$7-million payments starting in 2022 tied to Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer, via a questionable endorsement deal for sustainability non-profit Aspiration, Inc.
Leonard doesn’t appear to have any public endorsement of the brand, which classified the deal as a “no-show job” by Torre: essentially, all he had to do to collect the money was continue to play for the Clippers, and perhaps sign a few items of memorabilia in the process.
While endorsement deals with team-affiliated brands aren’t uncommon, they typically have a long list of obligations to be fulfilled in order to collect the money associated with them, such as filming commercials or posting about the brands on social media.
On Thursday, Boston Sports Journal’s John Karalis reported that Leonard had also been promised US$20 million in stock options for Aspiration, with the two deals totalling a little shy of the US$50 million investment that Ballmer had reportedly put into the company.
“According to a high-level source, Leonard also cut a side deal with Aspiration to receive an additional $20 million in company stock. The stock was to be paid out from [co-founder Joe] Sanberg’s personal holdings in the company over four years,” Karalis wrote.