“I Feel Embarrassed”: Steve Ballmer Addresses Aspiration Ties, Clears the Air Over Clippers Future

“You’ve obviously done very well in your career in business. You didn’t smell anything wrong with the company. You didn’t see anything wrong. You obviously reviewed the financials before you got involved with the business proposal.”

“I reviewed… my staff reviewed primarily fraudulent financials. Now, should I have sniffed it out? Maybe. I feel embarrassed and kind of silly that I didn’t sniff it out, but I didn’t. I made the investment. A lot of other smart investors didn’t sniff it out either. It’s also true I’ve made a bunch of bad business deals and investments in my life, and I’ve made some good ones. This was fraud and a bad investment, and I’m embarrassed by that.”

This is a developing story.