Aspiration Partners, a company that signed a deal to sell 6.75 million carbon credits to Meta, has filed for bankruptcy

Aspiration’s co-founder Joe Sanberg has been arrested. Board member and investor, Ibrahim AlHusseini, has signed a plea agreement.

Aspiration Partners has filed for bankruptcy. Aspiration Partners was the company with the slogan “Clean rich is the new filthy rich”. Aspiration started out as a fintech investment firm and became a carbon credit broker, selling carbon credits to Meta, Microsoft and several other large corporations.

On 30 March 2025, the company, which is now called CTN Holdings, filed for bankruptcy in the Delaware Bankruptcy Court. The filing came on 30 March 2025, just weeks after its co-founder Joe Sanberg was arrested. Sanberg is accused of conspiring to defraud two investor funds of about US$145 million.

In October 2024, Aspiration board member and investor in the company, Ibrahim AlHusseini, was arrested. In February 2025, AlHusseini signed a plea agreement.

Celebrity backing

Aspiration Partners was backed by several celebrities, including actors Leonardo DiCaprio, Orlando Bloom, Cindy Crawford, and Robert Downey Jr., the musician Drake, the Skoll Foundation’s Jeffrey Skoll, basketball coach Doc Rivers, and former-Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.

CTN Holdings has debts of about US$170 million. The firm CR3 Partners has been hired as CTN Holdings restructuring adviser.

Bloomberg reports CR3 managing director Miles Staglik as saying in a court filing that the goal of the bankruptcy is to sell the company’s assets as quickly as possible to repay creditors. The company plans to auction its assets in the next 45 days.

The Wall Street Journal reports Staglik as saying in a court filing that the pool of potential buyers could be small because of “significant capital outlays and risks associated with the business, as well as the long-time horizon for realizing a return”. Staglik added that Aspiration faces “substantial” shareholder and trade litigation.

Sanberg has pleaded not guilty

Staglik told Bloomberg that the charges against Sanberg involve his personal conduct and CTN Holding and its subsidiaries are not implicated “in any criminal activity”.

According to Staglik the company’s current leadership and employees were unaware of, and are victims of, Sanberg’s alleged conspiracy to defraud. Staglik told Bloomberg that Sanberg, “no longer holds any positions or roles with the Debtors and is no longer involved in any capacity with the Debtors’ operations.”

Bloomberg reports Sanberg’s lawyer, Marc Mukasey of Mukasey Young LLP as saying that, “Mr. Sanberg has pleaded not guilty and we look forward to vigorously defending him.”

Staglik also said that the criminal case against Sanberg “has adversely impacted the Debtors’ ability to find replacement capital for immediate operational needs”.

CTN Holdings plans to borrow US$4 million in order to fund its insolvency case. In court papers, CTN Holdings states that it has financing lined up to fund its operations as it tries to sell its assets. However, on 31 March 2025, Staglik said in a filing to the bankruptcy court that the company had failed to secure a lender after contacting about 24 lenders and existing investors.

Secured bondholder Inherent Group eventually agreed to provide a total of US$18 million in financing for CTN Holdings, which includes US$4.2 million in new money.

Clippers and Kia Forum owed US$40 million for carbon credit deal

CTN Holdings’ subsidiary Catona Climate Solutions also filed for bankruptcy. Catona was Aspiration’s carbon business.

CTN Holding’s largest unsecured creditor is the National Basketball Association’s Los Angeles Clippers and Kia Forum. Both are owned by Steven Ballmer, former-CEO of Microsoft. Clippers and Kia Forum hold US$40 million in unsecured claims for “contracted carbon credits” and “carbon credit value”, according to the bankruptcy petition.

The full list of the companies that filed for bankruptcy is as follows:

• CTN Holdings, Inc.;

• CTN SPV Holdings, LLC;

• Catona Climate Solutions, LLC;

• Make Earth Green Again, LLC;

• Aspiration QFZ, LLC;

• Zero Carbon Holdings, LLC; and

• Aspiration Fund Adviser, LLC.

The last six companies in the list are wholly owned subsidiaries of CTN Holdings.

In April 2024, a company called Mission Financial Partners bought the Aspiration fintech investment brand. Mission Financial Partners was incorporated in the tax haven of Delaware in November 2021.

A Mission Financial Partners spokesperson told Forbes that,

“Aspiration is not affiliated with CTN Holdings, and Aspiration’s family of green financial products are unaffected by this filing or any related legal matters.”

Aspiration is changing its name to GreenFi — which the CEO Tim Newell calls “the next evolution of Aspiration”.