Ballmer's Secret I.O.U., Aspiration's "Web of Lies" and the Zenith of Fraud: Kawhi-Gate, Part XI
Pablo Torre Finds Out
Pablo Torre
4.7 • 2.6K Ratings
🗓️ 5 June 2026
⏱️ 63 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
As Adam Silver calls for the NBA's Kawhi Leonard probe to wrap up and Aspiration's co-founder gets 14 years behind bars, Pablo investigates how Steve Ballmer covered his tracks on a side deal of his own — and with the SEC on the case. Former DOJ prosecutor Lou Manzo returns to make sense of the relationship between a billionaire and a fraudster, while David Samson is finally convinced that the richest owner in sports has lost credibility.
(Additional reporting by Anita Bennett)
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Previously on PTFO:
• Part I: The Silent Superstar and the Rotten Apple Tree
• Part II: An Argument with Mark Cuban
• Part III: The Mystery Investor, the No-Show Payday and the "Smoking Gun"
• Part IV: Steve Ballmer, the Other Cuban and the $118 Million Infusion
• Part V: Steve Ballmer's "Inconceivable" Donation, the $20 Million Guarantee and a Head on a Spike
• Part VI: An IRL Showdown with Mark Cuban
• Part VII: The Briefcase, Ballmer's Social Network and Aspiration's House of Cards
• Part VIII: Uncle Dennis, Ballmer's $50 Million Sprint and the Side Deal That Wouldn't Die
• Part IX: Ballmer's Tree Money, the Whistle-Blowers and the Document You've Been Waiting For
• Part X: Steve Ballmer's Victim Impact, the Man Who Prosecuted Aspiration and the Abacus of Incarceration
(Pablo Torre Finds Out is independently produced by Meadowlark Media and distributed by The Athletic. The views, research and reporting expressed in this episode are solely those of Pablo Torre Finds Out and do not reflect the work or editorial input of The Athletic or its journalists.)
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Pablo Torre finds out. I am Pablo Torre, and today we're going to find out what this sound is. |
| 0:06.6 | You could go to the SEC and say, you know, sorry, we disclosed it, but we didn't disclose enough. |
| 0:11.1 | That's a more common issue, right? Where you don't disclose enough, but the fact that there's no disclosure at all is pretty egregious. |
| 0:18.2 | Right after this ad. |
| 0:34.1 | David is Svitzing? Big time. You're a potels, baby. David, I want to thank you for doing this, |
| 0:37.8 | given that you're beaming in from Germany for this emergency episode. |
| 0:44.2 | It is a time of day that no one should be speaking as loudly as I'm speaking in a hotel room. Part 11 of our aspiration series demands this. Lou Manzo, we are joined again by him here in New York City, David. |
| 0:53.3 | This is, of course, a longtime PTOFO listener turned new special legal analyst who is subbing in for Amin al-Hasson, who is in a foreign territory known as San Antonio for the NBA Finals. |
| 1:05.3 | And what Lou lacks in, I would say, a credible Doc Rivers impression. He makes up for, and literally being the |
| 1:11.5 | former Department of Justice prosecutor who launched the federal government's investigation into |
| 1:15.4 | aspiration co-founder Joe Sandberg. Back in 23. Right. So I should recap here for everybody, |
| 1:22.6 | David. Lou was not one of my sources when we started this series in September of 25. He was merely listening. |
| 1:29.0 | We finally got in touch for the very first time earlier this year on the dating app known as LinkedIn, |
| 1:36.4 | which has become, I would say, decreasingly helpful for my reporting now that people know that I'm creeping |
| 1:41.0 | around there. |
| 1:42.9 | You know, I always like it when you click on my profile. |
| 1:45.1 | I check it out. |
| 1:45.7 | We are watching each other, but the thing I immediately discovered, David, |
| 1:49.6 | that I learned about Lou that's relevant here |
| 1:51.9 | is that be whistled or complaint that you and I and Amin read aloud from at Sloan live |
| 1:57.9 | as you sat in the chair that Adam Silver sat in in spring of 26. |
| 2:01.9 | This was something that Lou had read in, yes, 2023 in the spring of that year, |
... |
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