Mavericks part-owner Mark Cuban could’ve been in the same position as the LA Clippers and Steve Ballmer and their fraud allegations. But the Shark Tank panelist sniffed out the warning signs and did not indulge the scammers.
Cuban went on a massive back-and-forth with Pablo Torre on X and then appeared for a dialogue on his show, Pablo Torre Finds Out.
Amongst other things, Cuban candidly revealed that he, too, was approached by people from Aspiration, the company involved in Ballmer and Kawhi Leonard’s fraud allegations. But Cuban dodged a bullet there.
“When I saw this, when I saw your report, right, I went up and I just searched in my email to see if they had ver sent me anything because I figured if they’re trying to pitch Steve Ballmer, they’re probably trying to pitch me. So, they did, in March of 2020, they sent me an email asking if I wanted to get involved.” Cuban told Torre.
“From Joe Sanberg, with CC to Andrei Cherny. Mark, I co-founded Aspiration, and the Aspiration team wants to move on this with you. I’ve copied my co-founder. Aspiration has 1.88 million users, raised 200 million of VC, and is focused on delivering socially conscious financial services to everyday Americans. Would you like to connect by phone so we can operationalize ASAP?” Cuban read out the email on air.
Cuban explained that it felt a little bit off from the beginning, and their request came just as the pandemic hit. So it was a time when a lot of founders were looking for investments to sustain themselves.
“First, that’s really aggressive, right? I mean, it was like the assumption closed. Didn’t even ask questions.” Cuban noted that he saw clear warning signs from the beginning.
“So this guy’s coming in saying, “We can do it. We’re a bank.” And I said, “Well, are you even a real bank? I appreciate your desire to help.” And he said, “No worries. Building on my prior response, we have a bank partner that is ready to go on this. We have been finalizing a product with them. We could literally do 1 million of these $1,200 loans,” the former Mavericks co-owner narrated.
Their official press release says that they were partnered with Coastal Community Bank, a Member FDIC institution.
Steve Ballmer gave an interview to ESPN, where he said that he got conned by the company just like a lot of other investors and that he did not sniff it out as he should’ve.
“First of all, a company that I’ve never heard of, ready to do over a billion dollars in loans. Okay, that was a red flag. And that was the end of it. I never followed up with those guys, and I don’t have anything else from any of them going forward.” Cuban concluded.
Ballmer has claimed they’ll be completely open to any investigation and comply with the NBA. It is a story that is constantly developing, and the NBA has officially said that they’ve started the investigation.
But Cuban, interestingly, offered that if Aspiration had a deal with the Clippers and Ballmer had an investment in the company as well, the league would’ve already looked into the matter.
The reports from Pablo Torre and the Boston Sport Journal have made the fans once again look behind the curtain and check if there’s anything fishy going on with their beloved sport.
