U.S. Federal Justice Dept. Opens Criminal Investigation Into Clippers Scandal
Uh oh. The LA Clippers' cap circumvention scandal just got a whole lot more serious. The United States Department of Justice has opened a criminal investigation into allegations that the Clippers helped arrange "secret contracts" for Kawhi Leonard to circumvent the NBA's salary cap.
Federal prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation into allegations that the Los Angeles Clippers helped arrange secret sponsorship contracts for Kawhi Leonard that circumvented the salary cap, according to people briefed on the matter. https://t.co/UPfetm2edk
— The New York Times (@nytimes) September 11, 2026
This comes a week after the NBA dropped the hammer on the Clippers with fines, suspensions and forfeited draft picks. Now the feds will be looking into the alleged "no show" deals for Leonard with third-party companies Aspiration, Daktronics, Boingo, and Lockton.
Federal criminal investigation to look into 'secret sponsorship contracts' Clippers arranged for Kawhi Leonard
"Federal prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation into allegations that the Los Angeles Clippers helped arrange secret sponsorship contracts for the star player Kawhi Leonard that circumvented the salary cap, according to people briefed on the matter," Michael Schmidt and William Rashbaum wrote in the New York Times.
"The investigation is in its earliest stages and is being conducted by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Brooklyn, which has a long history of investigating the NBA and professional sports, according to two of the people."
The NBA, after its own year-long investigation, took no mercy on the Clippers, punishing them by having the team lose its next five first-round draft picks, pay a $30M fine, and leaving owner Steve Ballmer suspended for one year and president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank suspended for six months.
Kawhi was fined $700,000.
The trade that was agreed to by the Clippers and Toronto Raptors to send Leonard back to his former team has been on hold for the last 2+ months, and the Clippers continue to delay its official confirmation. Some insiders feel they are doing that out of spite.
We'll have to see how this federal criminal investigation impacts both the trade, and the Clippers franchise.