CALIFORNIA – The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced August 21, that a California man who co-founded Aspiration Partners has agreed to plead guilty to defrauding investors and lenders.
Aspiration Partners was a financial technology and sustainability services company that offered banking, investment, and carbon offset programs.
Joseph Neal Sanberg, 46, of Orange, is charged with two counts of wire fraud, each carrying up to 20 years.
“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,” said Acting United States Attorney Bill Essayli.
Sanberg recruited companies to pay for tree-planting services
Court documents detail that from 2020 to 2025, Sanberg used his role and stock in Aspiration to defraud lenders and investors.
Between 2020 and 2021, he and board member Ibrahim AlHusseini fraudulently secured $145 million in loans by pledging Aspiration stock and falsifying bank statements to inflate AlHusseini’s assets.
Starting in 2021, Sanberg concealed from investors that he was the source of certain company revenue. He recruited companies and individuals to sign letters of intent committing to pay tens of thousands monthly for tree-planting services.
He used entities he controlled to hide that the payments came from him, not customers. He also instructed Aspiration employees not to contact these customers.
Aspiration recorded revenue from these payments between March 2021 and November 2022, without disclosing Sanberg as the source. Financial statements overstated revenue, and Sanberg continued soliciting investors through 2025.
Victims sustained more than $248 million in losses
He further misled lenders and investors with false materials, including a fake audit committee letter claiming $250 million in cash when Aspiration had under $1 million.
He used these false financial materials to secure millions in loans and investments. Sanberg’s victims sustained more than $248 million in losses.
Victims can contact the Fraud Section’s Victim Witness Unit at (888) 549-3945 or [email protected]. To learn more about victims’ rights, visit www.justice.gov/criminal/criminal-vns/victim-rights-derechos-de-las-v-ctimas.
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