SEC v. Joseph Neal Sanberg, No. LR-26382, Central District of California (Aug. 21, 2025) — Press Release

U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Litigation Release No. 26382 / August 21, 2025 Accounting and Auditing Enforcement No. 4575 / August 21, 2025 Securities and Exchange Commission v. Joseph Neal Sanberg, No. 8:25-cv-01848 (C.D. Cal. filed Aug. 21, 2025) SEC Charges Co-Founder of Environmental Sustainability Company with Fake Revenue Scheme The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Joseph Neal Sanberg, the co-founder and former board member of Aspiration Partners, Inc., for raising more than $300 million from investors based on a fraudulent scheme to generate and mislead investors about fake revenues for environmental sustainability services. According to the SEC’s complaint, from January 2021 through December 2022, while Aspiration was seeking to go public via a SPAC merger, Sanberg engaged in a scheme to create the appearance of tens of millions of dollars in revenues from customers for reforestation services, whereby customers interested in lowering their carbon footprint paid Aspiration to plant trees. The complaint alleges that Sanberg recruited friends and other associates into reforestation deals and presented them to Aspiration as bona fide customers, for which Aspiration recognized millions of dollars in revenue. As further alleged, in reality, none of these purported customers had committed to pay for Aspiration’s reforestation services – Sanberg allegedly told these customers that they could receive Aspiration’s services for no charge, while Sanberg secretly paid for these services with funds from accounts he controlled. The complaint alleges that Sanberg used the inflated revenue figures to raise over $300 million from Aspiration investors, solicit additional investors, and receive millions in compensation from Aspiration. The SEC’s complaint, filed in the Central District of California, charges Sanberg with violating Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 10(b) of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder. The SEC seeks permanent injunctions, including a conduct-based injunction, disgorgement with prejudgment interest, civil penalties, and an officer-and-director bar. In a parallel action, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California and the U.S. Department of Justice announced criminal charges against Sanberg. The SEC’s investigation was conducted by DoHoang Duong and Matthew Montgomery, both of the Los Angeles Regional Office, and Crystal Boodoo, of the Philadelphia Regional Office. The investigation was supervised by Diana Tani and Brent Wilner. The litigation will be led by Daniel Lim and supervised by Douglas Miller of the Los Angeles Regional Office. The SEC’s investigation is ongoing.

U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Litigation Release No. 26382 / August 21, 2025 Accounting and Auditing Enforcement No. 4575 / August 21, 2025 Securities and Exchange Commission v. Joseph Neal Sanberg, No. 8:25-cv-01848 (C.D. Cal. filed Aug. 21, 2025) SEC Charges Co-Founder of Environmental Sustainability Company with Fake Revenue Scheme The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Joseph Neal Sanberg, the co-founder and former board member of Aspiration Partners, Inc., for raising more than $300 million from investors based on a fraudulent scheme to generate and mislead investors about fake revenues for environmental sustainability services. According to the SEC’s complaint, from January 2021 through December 2022, while Aspiration was seeking to go public via a SPAC merger, Sanberg engaged in a scheme to create the appearance of tens of millions of dollars in revenues from customers for reforestation services, whereby customers interested in lowering their carbon footprint paid Aspiration to plant trees. The complaint alleges that Sanberg recruited friends and other associates into reforestation deals and presented them to Aspiration as bona fide customers, for which Aspiration recognized millions of dollars in revenue. As further alleged, in reality, none of these purported customers had committed to pay for Aspiration’s reforestation services – Sanberg allegedly told these customers that they could receive Aspiration’s services for no charge, while Sanberg secretly paid for these services with funds from accounts he controlled. The complaint alleges that Sanberg used the inflated revenue figures to raise over $300 million from Aspiration investors, solicit additional investors, and receive millions in compensation from Aspiration. The SEC’s complaint, filed in the Central District of California, charges Sanberg with violating Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 10(b) of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder. The SEC seeks permanent injunctions, including a conduct-based injunction, disgorgement with prejudgment interest, civil penalties, and an officer-and-director bar. In a parallel action, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California and the U.S. Department of Justice announced criminal charges against Sanberg. The SEC’s investigation was conducted by DoHoang Duong and Matthew Montgomery, both of the Los Angeles Regional Office, and Crystal Boodoo, of the Philadelphia Regional Office. The investigation was supervised by Diana Tani and Brent Wilner. The litigation will be led by Daniel Lim and supervised by Douglas Miller of the Los Angeles Regional Office. The SEC’s investigation is ongoing.