U.S. Department
of Justice
United States v. Joseph N. Sanberg; United States v. Ibrahim A. AlHusseini
PENDING CRIMINAL DIVISION CASES
United States v. Joseph N. Sanberg
Court Docket No.: 25-CR-200
United States v. Ibrahim A. AlHusseini
Court Docket No.: 25-CR-42
Court Assigned: These cases are assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Stephen V. Wilson for the Central District of California, First Street Courthouse, 350 W. 1st Street, Courtroom 10A, 10th Floor, Los Angeles, California 90012.
Latest update:
On October 20, 2025, defendant Joseph Neal Sanberg pled guilty to two counts of wire fraud in the Superseding Information. Sentencing has been set for February 23, 2026 at 11:00 AM in Courtroom 10A at the First Street Courthouse, 350 W. 1st Street, Los Angeles, California, before U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson.
Sentencing as to defendant Ibrahim Ameen Alhusseini is continued from September 29, 2025, to February 26, 2026, at 10:30 AM, before the Honorable Stephen V. Wilson in Courtroom 10A, United States Courthouse, 350 W. 1st Street, Los Angeles, California, 90012.
If you are a victim and wish to submit a Victim Impact Statement ahead of the scheduled sentencing hearings, please submit the form linked below as well as any supporting documentation to Victimassistance.fraud@usdoj.gov by no later than December 1, 2025.
Previous updates:
On August 20, 2025, a superseding information was filed in the Central District of California, charging defendant Joesph Neal Sanberg with two counts of wire fraud in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1343. The government and defendant Sanberg simultaneously filed a plea agreement in which Sanberg agreed to plead guilty to both counts of wire fraud charged in the superseding information.
On March 3, 2025, defendant Ibrahim AlHusseini entered a guilty plea.
Criminal Charges:
On August 20, 2025, defendant Joseph Neal Sanberg was charged by criminal information and agreed to plead guilty to defrauding multiple investors and lenders. Sanberg has agreed to plead guilty to two counts of wire fraud and faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison per count. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. On March 3, 2025, Ibrahim Ameen AlHusseini pleaded guilty to an information charging him with wire fraud for falsifying documents and information to assist Sanberg. According to his plea agreement, AlHusseini personally received approximately $12.3 million in payments from the scheme.
According to court documents, beginning in 2020 and continuing into 2025, Joseph Neal Sanberg devised a scheme to use his role as a co-founder and board member of Aspiration as well as his shares of company stock to defraud various lenders and investors. Between 2020 and 2021, Sanberg and AlHusseini, both members of Aspiration’s board of directors, fraudulently obtained $145 million in loans from two lenders by pledging shares of Sanberg’s Aspiration stock. Sanberg and AlHusseini also falsified AlHusseini’s bank and brokerage statements to fraudulently inflate AlHusseini’s assets by tens of millions of dollars to secure the loans. Beginning in 2021, Sanberg also defrauded Aspiration’s investors by concealing that he was the source of certain revenue recognized by the company.
Court documents also state that Sanberg personally recruited companies and individuals to sign letters of intent with Aspiration in which they committed to pay tens of thousands of dollars per month for tree planting services. Sanberg used legal entities under his control to conceal that these payments came from Sanberg rather than from the customers. Aspiration booked revenue from these customers between March 2021 and November 2022. As a result, Aspiration’s financial statements were inaccurate and reflected much higher revenue than the company received. Sanberg continued to solicit investors to invest in Aspiration securities into 2025.
According to the documents, Sanberg also defrauded other lenders and investors with fraudulent materials describing Aspiration’s financial condition, including a fabricated letter from Aspiration’s audit committee that falsely stated that Aspiration had $250 million in available cash and equivalents at a time that Aspiration had less than $1 million in available cash. Sanberg used these fraudulent financial materials to obtain millions of dollars in additional loans and investments in Aspiration securities. Sanberg’s victims sustained more than $248 million in losses.
For more information about the charges in United States v. Joseph Sanberg, please see below:
Indictment
Press Release
Superseding Information
Plea Agreement
For more information about the charges in United States v. Ibrahim AlHusseini, please see below:
Information
Plea Agreement
Press Release
Victim Impact Statement: If you would like to submit a Victim Impact Statement, you may do so by mailing the Victim Impact Statement below (or a letter to the court) to: Victim Witness Unit, U.S. Department of Justice, Criminal Division, Fraud Section, 10th & Constitution, NW, Bond Building, Room 4416, Washington, D.C. 20530. You also may submit the Victim Impact Statement via email at VictimAssistance.fraud@usdoj.gov or by fax at: (202) 514-3708.
The information on this website will be updated as new developments arise in the case. If you have any questions, please call the Victim Assistance Line toll-free at (888) 549-3945 or email us at VictimAssistance.fraud@usdoj.gov.
Presumption of Innocence: It is important to keep in mind that a criminal indictment is merely an allegation, and defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty and that presumption requires both the court and our office to take certain steps to ensure that justice is served.
Crime Victims’ Rights Act and Right to Retain Counsel: Because charges have been filed in this case in federal court, you also may be entitled to the following rights, according to the Crime Victims’ Rights Act, Title 18, United States Code, Section 3771: (1) The right to be reasonably protected from the accused; (2) The right to reasonable, accurate, and timely notice of any public court proceeding, or any parole proceeding, involving the crime or of any release or escape of the accused; (3) The right not to be excluded from any such public court proceeding, unless the court, after receiving clear and convincing evidence, determines that testimony by the victim would be materially altered if the victim heard other testimony at that proceeding; (4) The right to be reasonably heard at any public proceeding in the district court involving release, plea, sentencing, or any parole proceeding; (5) The reasonable right to confer with the attorney for the Government in the case; (6) The right to full and timely restitution as provided in law; (7) The right to proceedings free from unreasonable delay; (8) The right to be treated with fairness and with respect for the victim’s dignity and privacy; (9) The right to be informed in a timely manner of any plea bargain or deferred prosecution agreement; and (10) The right to be informed of the rights under this section and the services described in section 503(c) of the Victims’ Rights and Restitution Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. § 10607(c)) and provided contact information for the Victims’ Rights Ombudsman of the Department of Justice. The Crime Victims’ Rights Act (18 U.S.C. § 3771) applies only to victims of the counts charged in federal court, and thus individuals may not be able to exercise all of these rights if the crime of which the individual is a victim was not charged.
Section 3771(c)(2) of this Act requires that we advise you that you have the right to retain counsel. Although the statute specifically sets forth your right to seek advice of an attorney with regard to your rights under the statute, there is no requirement that you retain counsel. The Government may not recommend any specific counsel, nor can the Government (or the Court) pay for counsel to represent you. Government attorneys represent the United States.
If you elect to obtain counsel to represent your interests, please have your attorney notify this office in writing at: U.S. Department of Justice, Criminal Division, Fraud Section, 10th & Constitution Avenue, NW, Bond Building, 4th Floor, Washington, DC 20530, Attention: Victim Witness Unit; fax: (202) 514-3708; or email: victimassistance.fraud@usdoj.gov. If you elect not to retain counsel to represent your interests, you do not need to do anything.
Plea Agreements: Please be aware that many criminal cases are resolved by plea agreement between the Department of Justice and the defendant. You should also know that it is not unusual for a defendant to seek to negotiate a plea agreement shortly before trial is scheduled to begin. Plea agreements can be made at any time and as late as the morning of trial, leaving little or no opportunity to provide notice to you of the date and time of the plea hearing. If the court schedules a plea hearing in this case, we will use our best efforts to notify you of available information as soon as practicable. If you want to inform the prosecutor of your views regarding potential plea agreements, or any other aspect of the case, please contact the prosecutor assigned to this case or call the Victim Assistance Line toll-free at (888) 549-3945 or email us at victimassistance.fraud@usdoj.gov.