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Aspiration co-founder to plead guilty to $248M fraud scheme
Joseph Sanberg is accused of falsely inflating revenue and fabricating a letter from Aspiration's audit committee to obtain loans, which the startup ultimately defaulted on.
Sustainability-focused fintech Aspiration was flying high a few years ago, attracting famous investors including Orlando Bloom, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Robert Downey Jr. Now, its co-founder will plead guilty to helping perpetuate a $248 million fraud scheme, according to U.S. attorneys. “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,” Acting United States Attorney Bill Essayli said in a statement yesterday. Using that fabricated letter and the false revenue statements, Sanberg is accused of obtaining $145 million in loans by pledging his own shares of Aspiration’s stock.
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