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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<\/a> to U.S. attorneys.<\/p>\n Joseph Sanberg, who was arrested in March<\/a>, has agreed to plead guilty to two counts of wire fraud, felony counts that could land him in prison for up to 20 years each.<\/p>\n \u201cThis so-called \u2018anti-poverty\u2019 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,\u201d Acting United States Attorney Bill Essayli said<\/a> in a statement yesterday.<\/p>\n Sanberg is accused of disguising the source of payments used to inflate Aspiration\u2019s revenue figures. He obtained letters of intent from companies interested in using the startup\u2019s tree planting services. Those letters committed the companies to tens of thousands of dollars per month in revenue, according to the U.S. Attorney\u2019s office of the Central District of California.<\/p>\n But the payments to Aspiration instead came from legal entities controlled by Sanberg, falsely inflating the startup\u2019s revenue. <\/p>\n Sanberg also allegedly fabricated a letter from Aspiration\u2019s audit committee that said the startup had $250 million in cash and equivalents available. In reality, Aspiration had less than $1 million in cash.<\/p>\n 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\u2019s stock. He also allegedly worked with one of Aspiration\u2019s board members, Ibrahim AlHusseini, to inflate AlHusseini\u2019s assets by tens of millions of dollars in an effort to obtain those loans. Aspiration defaulted on the loans twice.<\/p>\n Techcrunch event<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSan Francisco<\/span> Ultimately, victims of the fraud suffered more than $248 million in losses, according to the U.S. attorney\u2019s office.<\/p>\n \u201cSanberg continued to solicit investors to invest in Aspiration securities into 2025,\u201d the U.S. attorney\u2019s office said. He is expected to file a formal plea in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n We\u2019re always looking to evolve, and by providing some insight into your perspective and feedback into TechCrunch and our coverage and events, you can help us! Fill out\u00a0<\/em>this survey<\/a><\/em>\u00a0to let us know how we\u2019re doing and get the chance to win a prize in return!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOctober 27-29, 2025<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n