Climate Firm Aspiration’s Co-Founder Committed Fraud, SEC Says

Aspiration Partners Inc.'s co-founder used sham customer agreements to boost the sustainability services company’s revenue numbers, the SEC alleges in a suit filed Thursday.

This suit is the latest development related to the now-bankrupt celebrity-backed startup that arranged carbon credits for large companies, including Meta Platforms Inc. and Microsoft Corp.

Co-founder and board member Joseph Sanberg “recruited friends, associates, small businesses, and religious organizations and presented them to Aspiration as bona fide customers who were fully committed to paying large sums of money for Aspiration’s services,” the Securities and Exchange Commission says. But Sanberg had assured those people and organizations ...