Pablo Torre Podcast Team Wins 2026 Pulitzer Prize for Audio Reporting

The team of the Pablo Torre Finds Out podcast, produced by Meadowlark Media, received the 2026 Pulitzer Prize in Audio Reporting earlier this week. The award recognizes the four-part investigation broadcast in September that examined how the Los Angeles Clippers handled payments to Kawhi Leonard through a third-party company.

The series focused on a $28 million marketing deal Aspiration signed with Leonard. The podcast reported that Clippers owner Steve Ballmer had invested $50 million in Aspiration when it was founded in 2021 and that the team later signed a $300 million sponsorship deal with the company, which is now defunct.

The reporting raised questions about whether the arrangement violated NBA salary cap rules by effectively funneling additional money to Leonard. ” The award is one of 21 categories presented annually by Columbia University and was chosen by the Pulitzer Prize Board after review of more than 2,400 entries by 102 judges.

The PTFO investigation prompted an NBA review of the Clippers that remains ongoing eight months later. NBA commissioner Adam Silver described the probe as “enormously complex” in February at the All-Star break hosted by the Clippers. The league told ESPN in April that the investigation, being conducted by the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, was still active.

Steve Ballmer has denied any wrongdoing. He stated that he had been conned by Aspiration and acknowledged introducing the company to Leonard. Joseph Sanberg, Aspiration’s co-founder, pled guilty in 2025 to federal wire fraud charges related to a scheme that prosecutors said defrauded investors of $248 million.

Ballmer wrote a letter last month to the judge overseeing Sanberg’s sentencing.

Previous winners include This American Life, No Compromise, Suave, Stolen: Surviving St. Michael’s, You Didn't See Nothin, and In the Dark: The Killings in Haditha. This year’s finalists also included The New York Times for The Protocol and The Wall Street Journal for Camp Swamp Road.

Pablo Torre previously worked at ESPN and Sports Illustrated. His earlier investigations included a financial review of professional athletes that led to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission examination of Triton Financial. The PTFO podcast is distributed by The Athletic and focuses on detailed examinations of sports, business, and culture topics.