The NBA investigation into the Los Angeles Clippers, Kawhi Leonard, and owner Steve Ballmer may be over. But their trouble may just be beginning.
The Clippers were handed one of the harshest punishments in American sports history after the NBA backed up Pablo Torre’s reporting and found that the franchise did indeed circumvent the salary cap with illicit sponsorship payments for Leonard.
After initially signaling that he was prepared to fight the penalties, he backed down and publicly accepted them to try to move forward.
And as Torre outlined on his most recent podcast, there may be very good reason for that. He now has a criminal investigation that he has to prepare for.
The Department of Justice has now opened an inquiry into the scheme. Earlier this year, Aspiration’s co-founder was sentenced to 14 years in prison after being found guilty of defrauding investors and lenders in a scheme. With that same company at the center of the Clippers probe, and another one in Daktronics facing their own SEC scrutiny, the walls seem to be closing in.
Torre said he asked a former federal prosecutor what, if any, charges could come against Clippers owner Steve Ballmer for his role in all of this.
NEW: The DOJ could build a criminal conspiracy case against Steve Ballmer and the Clippers for securities fraud in the Kawhi Leonard scandal, former federal prosecutors tell @PabloTorre.
“Even in 2026, a creative theory could map out a road to jail time.”
And that’s before… pic.twitter.com/8a8mO6dbNv
— Pablo Torre Finds Out (@pablofindsout) September 17, 2026
“How much worse is all of this for Steve Ballmer personally at a high level now that the DOJ specifically is investigating these alleged schemes in addition to the SEC? And what this source said was, ‘Oh, much worse, not truly staring into the abyss, but this is a whole different sport, even in 2026. A creative theory could map out a road to jail time,'” Torre relayed.
If the Clippers knew that these companies would have to avoid disclosing the payments in their security filings, that could lead to huge trouble and a conspiracy to defraud investors and violate laws.
“If the Clippers aided lies where somebody benefitted with money, then that’s the basics of wire fraud. And then all you have to do is prove an interstate jurisdiction, and there you go off to the races,” former federal prosecutor Lou Manzo told Torre.
Of course, the question is how fiercely the DOJ may choose to go after Ballmer. Everything is political with the Trump Administration. And while Steve Ballmer is politically neutral, his wife, Connie, has taken steps to counteract some of his personal interests. Earlier this year she donated $80 million to support NPR after the federal government cut funding.
Will Trump’s DOJ look to make an example out of Steve Ballmer, or will his residence in the uber-elite class of billionaires provide enough insulation? Or could someone else at the Clippers or at these companies take the fall? Whatever the case, while the basketball side of the story may be over, the legal and criminal side may just be beginning.
About Matt Yoder