Aspiration is a left-of-center investment institution that claims it will not invest in conventional energy producers, pipelines, oil rigs, and coal mines. Aspiration pledges a donation of ten percent of its fees to a poverty alleviation fund and challenges customers to also donate to one of Aspiration’s partner organizations. Its partner organizations include left-of-center climate policy advocates such as the League of Conservation Voters Education Fund, the Sierra Club Foundation, and the Environmental Defense Fund. ^{1 2 3}

Aspiration has faced scrutiny over some of the company’s carbon offset claims and has been criticized for “weak internal control systems” regarding how the company structured business deals. ^{4 5}

Background

Aspiration Funds is a left-leaning investment institution that claims it will not invest in conventional energy producers, pipelines, oil rigs, and coal mines. ³ Aspiration provides high-interest cash management services, traditional mutual funds, no-fee IRAs and other financial services. ²

Aspiration operates with a voluntary “pay-what-you-think-is-fair” fee structure, allowing investors to pay Aspiration based on the value a customer perceives to have derived from the fund. In turn, Aspiration pledges a donation of ten percent of its fees to a poverty alleviation fund and challenges customers to also donate to one of Aspiration’s partner organizations. The partner organizations include left-leaning climate policy advocates such as the League of Conservation Voters Education Fund, the Sierra Club Foundation, and the Environmental Defense Fund. ^{1 6}

The Aspiration Redwood Fund is an ESG-focused investment fund. ⁷

Catona Climate is a spin-off of Aspiration that sells carbon credits, according to Bloomberg News. Catona Climate’s partners include Microsoft, Meta, Deloitte, Sonos, and Salesforce. ^{8 9}

Aspiration has had numerous celebrity investors including “Steve Ballmer, Leonardo DiCaprio, Orlando Bloom, Robert Downey Jr., and Cindy Crawford,” according to Bloomberg News. ⁵

Controversy

Marketing Claims

In 2021, ProPublica reported that several of Aspiration’s marketing claims were misleading. Allegedly misleading claims included over-inflating the number of Aspiration’s members at five million instead of the 592,000 members who were active users at the time. Aspiration had included in the definition for its members anyone who had signed the terms and conditions agreement to open an account to reach the five million number, regardless of whether an account was opened or used, according to ProPublica. ProPublica also reported that Aspiration CEO and co-founder Andrei Cherney claimed that the company had planted 35 million trees, when in reality, the company had actually planted 12 million as of that time. The 35 million number reportedly included trees that Aspiration was planning to plant but had not actually been planted at that time. ⁴

Failed Plans for an IPO

In 2021, Aspiration reportedly was formulating plans to make an initial public offering, according to Bloomberg News. To this end, Aspiration pursued deals with corporate clients, reportedly totaling $56 million. According to Bloomberg News, some of these business arrangements were unusual, including one with a Beverly Hills-based synagogue that was to pay Aspiration “$25,000 per month to participate in reforestation projects around the world” and another with a nonprofit that was “to pay Aspiration an amount nearly 10 times greater than its annual revenue.” ⁵

Joseph Sanberg, a co-founder and shareholder of Aspiration, was not an employee of the company. However, he handled many of the client contracts, an arrangement that a Harvard professor told Bloomberg  News revealed “weak internal control systems” at the company. ⁵

Bloomberg News reported that two customers of Aspiration “told Bloomberg Green that they had signed agreements simultaneously with Apogee Pacific LLC … which would cover the costs they were supposed to pay Aspiration.” ⁵

Joseph Sanberg Conspiracy Charges

Joseph Sanberg was a co-founder of Aspiration and its largest shareholder. Although not a formal employee, he was reportedly involved in managing relationships between Aspiration and some of its clients. ^{10 5}

In 2025, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California released a statement indicating that Sanberg had been arrested and charged with conspiracy to defraud in the amount of $145 million through falsified financial documents provided to two unnamed investment funds. Ibrahim Ameen AlHusseini, alleged to be Sanberg’s coconspirator in the Department of Justice’s statement, sat on the board of Aspiration and participated in the scheme, pleading guilty in early 2025. AlHusseini apparently received around $12.3 million personally from the scheme, according to the Department of Justice. ¹⁰

Planet of the Humans

Planet of the Humans, an anti-capitalist climate policy documentary produced by left-leaning filmmaker Michael Moore was released in April 2020. The film accused Aspiration of investing in several conventional energy firms, such as petroleum producer Exxon. In a post-script at the end of the film, the following additional claim was made: “Shorty after the second showing of this film, Sierra Club’s “green” Aspiration Fund shut down.” ^{11 12}

On April 24, 2020, Aspiration responded to the film by stating the firm had run more than one investment funds, that its “Aspiration Redwood Fund” had never funded conventional energy, and that Redwood Fund was the basis of Aspiration’s partnership with the Sierra Club. However, Aspiration also conceded that until earlier in 2020 a separate fund from the firm—the Aspiration Flagship Fund—had been shut down because Aspiration had decided to focus on “sustainable investments” and that the Flagship Fund had never been promoted as being “green” in its investment strategy. ¹¹

Aspiration’s April 2020 statement did not address whether or not its Flagship Fund had invested in conventional energy firms, but concluded with the hope that “Mr. Moore and the filmmakers will very quickly fix their mistake as every day that goes by more people are being fed false information.” ¹¹

Leadership

Andrei Cherny was a co-founder and a former CEO of Aspiration. Cherny left the company in 2022 amid controversy over Aspiration’s failed IPO plans. ⁵ Cherny previously worked as a speechwriter during the Clinton administration. In addition, Cherny ran a Democratic primary campaign for Arizona’s 1st Congressional District in 2024, but, according to a report by the Arizona Republic, reportedly faced federal scrutiny at the time over Aspiration’s “carbon offset” claims. ¹³

1. “Environment.” Aspiration. Accessed June 1, 2020. https://www.aspiration.com/do-good/environment/
2. “Financial Resistance Package.” Sierra Club, December 14, 2018. https://www.sierraclub.org/michael-brune/2017/06/financial-divestment 
3. “Green Financial Services – Smart Cash Management & Investing.” Aspiration. Accessed May 14, 2020. https://www.aspiration.com/
4. Kessler, Carson. “The Celebrity-Backed Green ‘Fintech’ Company That Isn’t as Green as It Seems.” ProPublica, November 17, 2021. https://www.propublica.org/article/the-celebrity-backed-green-fintech-company-that-isnt-as-green-as-it-seems.
5. Elgin, Ben, Kendall Taggart, and Tom Schoenberg. “Questionable Deals Caused a Climate Finance Startup to Unravel – Bloomberg.” Bloomberg. Accessed March 24, 2025. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2024-07-10/questionable-deals-caused-a-climate-finance-startup-to-unravel.
6. “Financial Resistance Package.” Sierra Club, December 14, 2018. https://www.sierraclub.org/michael-brune/2017/06/financial-divestment  
7. “ESG & Sustainable Investment Mutual Funds.” Aspiration. Accessed March 24, 2025. https://funds.aspiration.com/redwood/.
8. ^[1] Elgin, Ben, Kendall Taggart, and Tom Schoenberg. “Questionable Deals Caused a Climate Finance Startup to Unravel – Bloomberg.” Bloomberg. Accessed March 24, 2025. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2024-07-10/questionable-deals-caused-a-climate-finance-startup-to-unravel.
9. High-quality carbon solutions for enterprises. Accessed March 24, 2025. https://catona.com/.
10. “Joseph Sanberg, Co-Founder of Aspiration Partners, Arrested for Conspiring to Defraud an Investment Fund of at Least $145 Million.” Central District of California | Joseph Sanberg, Co-Founder of Aspiration Partners, Arrested for Conspiring to Defraud an Investment Fund of at Least $145 Million | United States Department of Justice, March 3, 2025. https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/joseph-sanberg-co-founder-aspiration-partners-arrested-conspiring-defraud-investment.
11. “Michael Moore’s ‘Planet of the Humans’ – Setting the Record Straight.” Aspiration , April 24, 2020. https://blog.aspiration.com/michael-moores-planet-of-the-humans-setting-the-record-straight/
12. Sev. K. “Environmentalism, Green Capitalism, and Planet of the Humans: A Marxist Review of Michael Moore’s New Film.” Medium. May 2, 2020. Accessed June 1, 2020. https://medium.com/@severin_k/environmentalism-green-capitalism-and-planet-of-the-humans-a-marxist-review-of-michael-moores-9d07736eff67
13. Gersony, Laura. “The Eco-Friendly Company This Arizona Congressional Candidate Co-Founded Is under Federal Scrutiny.” The Arizona Republic, January 20, 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/20250130160154/https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/01/20/aspiration-founder-andrei-cherny-business-environmental-claims-under-scrutiny/72286618007/.