Exclusive: The Invisible NBA Owner and "Crimes Against Humanity"

Summary

Pablo Torre Finds Out — “Exclusive: The Invisible NBA Owner and ‘Crimes Against Humanity’”

January 27, 2026 | The Athletic Podcast Network
Host: Pablo Torre
Guest Investigator: Sam Koppelman (Hunterbrook Media)

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Overview:

This episode is a gripping “talkumentary” investigation centered on Robert Pera, the reclusive, little-known billionaire owner of the Memphis Grizzlies. Pablo and Sam peel back the layers of Pera’s secretive life, his tech company Ubiquiti, and its unintended (or overlooked) role in enabling Russian drone warfare in Ukraine — conduct that the United Nations has termed “crimes against humanity.” The episode contrasts the NBA’s swiftness in disciplining players like Ja Morant with its anticipated response to the actions (and inaction) of one of its most powerful owners, highlighting issues of accountability, money, tech ethics, and global conflict.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Setting the Stage: Ja Morant and Violence in the NBA

• Ja Morant’s Disciplinary Issues (01:28 – 03:14)

  • Ja Morant suspended multiple times for gun-related incidents on social media.
  • The narrative around him highlights the NBA’s approach to player discipline.
  • “[Morant] is thematically very essential to understanding the implications of it.” — Pablo Torre (03:04)

• Grizzlies Ownership: Enter Robert Pera (03:22 – 04:11)

  • Robert Pera: the “invisible” billionaire, owner since age 34 in 2012.
  • Known for his success at Ubiquiti Networks, a “democratizer of the internet.”

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2. Who Is Robert Pera? NBA’s Most Mysterious Owner

• Pera’s Silicon Valley Backstory (05:00 – 05:16)

  • Bill Gurley called him "the most successful entrepreneur in Silicon Valley that you don't know."
  • Purchased the Memphis Grizzlies and quickly became the youngest controlling owner in NBA history.
  • “[Pera] was less than four years older than Tony Allen, the team’s best defender.” — Pablo Torre (05:45)

• An Unusual Owner — Yearning for Recognition (06:46 – 08:57)

  • Pera frustrated that people thought Justin Timberlake owned the team.
  • Embarrassing moment: wanted a one-on-one game versus Tony Allen; backed out after realizing the mismatch.
  • “Robert kind of liked to swing his elbows in a way that could start fights. And Tony is the last person in the league you want to [mess] with… I just think Robert had no idea how badly an NBA player would kick his ass.” — Former Grizzlies employee (09:23)

• Old Tweets, Deleted Challenges (08:28 – 13:34)

  • Pera’s bravado on Twitter: challenged Tony Allen, Mark Cuban, even Michael Jordan, to playful (and charitable) on-court showdowns.
  • “[If we’re talking an owner game,] get me MJ. I’ll up the charity contribution to $1 million.” — Robert Pera, deleted tweet (13:12)

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3. What Is Ubiquiti? From NBA Arenas to Global Warfare

• Company Profile (14:22 – 15:07)

  • Ubiquiti: $34B market cap, makes affordable Wi-Fi/networking equipment found worldwide.
  • Beloved by fans for ease of use; former employees and influencers praise the technology on YouTube.
  • Notable Quote: “They can be spotted in garages and broom closets and backyards across the world.” — Pablo Torre (14:44)

• The Dildo-in-a-Dish Antenna (16:04 – 16:22)

  • Pablo’s colorful description: “Imagine there’s like a dish that’s kind of flat and then there’s this dildo just coming out of the center of it.” (16:09)
  • Sam: “A dildo in a dish?”
    Pablo: “Yeah, with a ubiquity U... right at the tip facing outwards.” (16:16)

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4. The Smoking Gun: Ubiquiti Devices on Russian Frontlines

• Ubiquiti in Russian Warfare (17:23 – 20:54)

  • Hunterbrook investigation: Ubiquiti’s radio bridges and antennas are being used by Russian military in occupied Ukraine for secure communications and drone attacks.
  • “This enables precision drone attacks against Ukrainian civilians. The types of massacres of innocent people that the UN has called crimes against humanity.” — Sam Koppelman (19:36)

• Visual Evidence (17:37, 22:07 – 22:48)

  • Russian state TV shows Ubiquiti devices among ruins in Donbass.
  • Drone video geolocated to a church steeple on the front line, bristling with Ubiquiti antennas.
  • “It looks like an infestation of these devices... a bunch of my mate Vinces jerry-rigged this thing together.” — Pablo Torre (22:34)

• Scale of the Problem (23:05 – 24:18)

  • Ukrainian officer “Django” estimates ~80% of Russian frontline radio bridge antennas are Ubiquiti.
  • Russian units publicly request and receive Ubiquiti equipment for the war via Telegram.

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5. Sanctions, Compliance, and Evasion

• American Tech Powering War Crimes (25:04 – 29:22)

  • U.S. sanctions prohibit supplying such dual-use tech to Russia.
  • Ubiquiti previously fined for similar violations involving Iran in 2014. Pera told Forbes, “If it happens again, I’ll be in trouble.” (29:42)

• Inside Ubiquiti: Minimal Oversight (27:29 – 28:08)

  • Almost no compliance team; “CEO Robert Pera... just doesn’t care about all the extra garbage.” — Former employee (27:44)

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6. Hunterbrook’s Undercover Investigation: How Evasion Works

• Ordering Ubiquiti from Russia (32:08 – 39:41)

  • Hunterbrook reporter, pretending to be Russian military, easily buys Ubiquiti devices on Russian websites, e.g., ubiquiti.ru.
  • Key vendor: Nina Kuznetsova, Moscow-based, openly provides “thank you” letters from Russian troops as proof of successful shipments.
  • “Nina sent us thank you letters thanking her for providing equipment to troops fighting in Ukraine.” — Sam Koppelman (37:30)
  • 95% of shipments to the “SVO” (Special Military Operation) are Ubiquiti, according to vendors.

• A “Smoking Gun” (37:27 – 39:10)

  • Official letters from Russian military units and companies explicitly thank Nina for providing “wireless bridges for Russian servicemen in Ukraine.”
  • “We wanted to make triple, quadruple, quintuple sure that Ubiquiti was really selling these devices…” — Sam Koppelman (38:41)

• American Resellers Willing to Evade (40:50 – 43:52)

  • Ohio-based official Ubiquiti reseller (Multi Link Solutions) agrees to ship hundreds of devices to a Russian customer, via Turkey, circumventing sanctions.
  • “[They] actually agreed to help circumvent U.S. sanctions.” — Pablo Torre (43:51)

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7. Implications, Accountability, and the NBA

• Does the NBA Care More About Players or Billionaire Owners? (44:03 – 48:43)
  • The contrast between Ja Morant’s public, swift punishment versus the likely protected status of Robert Pera.
  • Core Question: “Does the NBA commissioner care more about a player brandishing a gun on Instagram or if one of his billionaire bosses is enabling Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine?” — Sam Koppelman (48:25)
  • “What kind of accountability is even possible in the event that wrongdoing is reported and established?” — Pablo Torre (46:05)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “The owner of the Memphis Grizzlies is a man by the name of Robert Pera… the most successful entrepreneur in Silicon Valley that you don't know.” — Sam Koppelman quoting Bill Gurley (03:55, 04:46)
• “Robert Pera… wanted to make it very clear that he was the one bringing sexy back to Memphis.” — Sam Koppelman (06:47)
• “It's harder to imagine a more stark example of someone not wanting to beat their boss at something.” — Pablo Torre on the cancelled Tony Allen showdown (12:08)
• “These [Ubiquiti] products are allegedly being used to do what by Russia in Ukraine?” — Pablo Torre (18:55)
• “...Ubiquiti’s radio bridges… enable precision drone attacks against Ukrainian civilians… crimes against humanity.” — Sam Koppelman (19:36)
• “Without ubiquity, these drones from Russia, the ones leading to these massacres, they would not work. Quote, ‘they’d be flying blind.’” — Ukrainian soldier via Sam Koppelman (20:54)
• “There is simply no alternative… about 80% of Russian radio bridge antennae observed on the front line is ubiquity.” — Ukrainian officer “Django” (23:05)
• “She’s slinging Wi-Fi antennae, to be specific.” — Sam Koppelman re: Nina the Russian vendor (35:45)
• “Nina sent us thank you letters thanking her for providing equipment to troops fighting in Ukraine.” — Sam Koppelman (37:30)
• “...an American company, an official ubiquity reseller, actually agreed to help circumvent U.S. sanctions.” — Pablo Torre (43:51)
• “I told that owner Pablo that we now know where at least some of those sales are coming from. And the answer is Russia.” — Sam Koppelman (44:03)
• “Does the NBA commissioner care more about a player brandishing a gun on Instagram or if one of his billionaire bosses is enabling Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine?” — Sam Koppelman (48:25)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Intro and Setup (01:28 – 03:14): Ja Morant and recent NBA controversies.
• Who Is Robert Pera? (03:22 – 08:57): Pera’s backstory, NBA beginnings, Twitter antics.
• Ubiquiti & Its Global Impact (14:22 – 17:23): Tech company profile, cult following, product description.
• Russian Usage of Ubiquiti (17:23 – 24:18): Frontline use, evidence, firsthand accounts.
• Sanctions, Noncompliance & Evasion (25:04 – 29:42): Legal context, Pera’s 2014 comments, prior fines.
• Hunterbrook’s Sting Operation (32:08 – 43:52): Undercover purchase, Russian and American intermediary sellers, smoking gun letters.
• NBA, Accountability, and Consequences (44:03 – 48:43): Will league or U.S. government act? Comparing the system’s response to players vs. owners.

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Tone & Style

• Journalistic, irreverent, with cutting humor.
• Smart, skeptical, and at times snarky — especially in Pablo’s colorful analogies (“dildo in a dish”), the banter about NBA personality/ego, and the allusions to realpolitik, capitalism, and the inconsistencies in how institutions mete out discipline.

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For Listeners Who Missed It:

This episode is a masterclass in how tech, sports, and geopolitics collide — with Robert Pera, an NBA owner, and his company Ubiquiti, unwittingly at the epicenter of modern warfare and human rights debates. It’s an exposé of regulatory loopholes, ethical blind spots, and the shocking ease with which sanctioned products find their way into war zones, presented with wit, skepticism, and social conscience. If you want to know how a tech billionaire hiding in plain sight can disrupt the NBA — and potentially global security — this is essential listening.

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End of Summary

Transcript

[Pablo Torre]

Welcome to Pablo Torre finds out. I am Pablo Torre. And today we're gonna find out what this sound is on this one.

[Sam Koppelman]

We actually got one of the craziest smoking guns I've ever seen right after this ad.

[Commercial Announcer]

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[Pablo Torre]

Say hello to Samantha.

[Sam Koppelman]

Hi there.

[Pablo Torre]

Samantha built a SaaS platform that helps.

[Advertiser Voice]

Small businesses manage their workflow.

[Pablo Torre]

But she needed a smarter way to reach decision makers.

[Sam Koppelman]

That's where Acast came in.

[Podcast Ad Client]

They helped me produce a professional audio ad which played to business owners and.

[Sam Koppelman]

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[Podcast Ad Client]

Suddenly my platform was showing up in.

[Sam Koppelman]

The ears of exact people I needed to reach.

[Advertiser Voice]

Now that's streamlined marketing.

[Pablo Torre]

Samantha, what's your tip for scaling smart?

[Sam Koppelman]

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[Pablo Torre]

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[Advertiser Voice]

Get started at go.acast.com advertise.

[Pablo Torre]

Look, this is going to be an episode about weapons, about the NBA, about money and the Internet. And so I do feel obliged. Sam Koppelman, thank you for being here as always. Honors we should start with John Moran. We should start with the young star of the Memphis Grizzlies, who personally might be very interested in what we're going to talk about here today ahead of next week's trade deadline. Because whether or not the Grizzlies find a stable alternative for his services, I do want to catch people up on what he in fact has been going through.

[Sam Koppelman]

Yeah, it's been an interesting couple years for John Morant. He was recently put on the trading block for the first time because for.

[Pablo Torre]

The first time since drafting him, number two overall in 2019. Sources tell me the Grizzlies are open and listening to offers on John Morant.

[Sam Koppelman]

And this comes after multiple NBA suspensions. Breaking news on Memphis star John Morant, who will be suspended for gun related incidents. Grizzly star Ja Morant has been suspended for a second time after once again appearing to flash a gun on social media while he's riding in a friend's car. Yes, which also led to him being fined for his signature celebration.

[Advertiser Voice]

Fined $75,000 by the league for mimicking.

[Sam Koppelman]

A shooting gun with his finger pantomiming.

[Pablo Torre]

Shooting guns, which then led to JA unveiling a new celebration, of course, in which he pantomimes throwing a grenade.

[Sam Koppelman]

And then in another celebration this month.

[Pablo Torre]

Yeah, this is new, here's Moran line.

[Commercial Announcer]

Up a long range money.

[Sam Koppelman]

JA pantomimes a rocket launcher and it goes on from there.

[Pablo Torre]

But while the rest of sports media wants to focus in on Ja, he is not the subject of our investigation as much as he is thematically very essential to understanding the implications of it.

[Sam Koppelman]

Most sports fans know a lot about Ja Morant. He's a super polarizing player. And we're not going to retread any.

[Pablo Torre]

Of that here today because, Sam, the main character of the report that you have done here with your investigative team at Hunter Brook Media, which we are always glad, always honored to feature here at Palpatore, finds out, is a guy that I think most fans could not pick out of a lineup, even though he happens to also be the billionaire deciding the entire question of whether the Grizzlies should actually pull the trigger, as it were, on a Ja Morant blockbuster trade. And so this guy, this billionaire that no one else is talking about, this Mr. Invisible of the NBA, who is he?

[Sam Koppelman]

The owner of the Memphis Grizzlies is a man by the name of Robert Pera. He left Apple where he was an engineer to become the founder and CEO of, of a relatively obscure but very important company called Ubiquiti Networks.

[Pablo Torre]

And Ubiquiti, for those who are not familiar, as I imagine almost all of our audience is not, what does Ubiquiti do?

[Sam Koppelman]

They promise to, quote, democratize the Internet. They offer affordable, easy to use, high quality WI FI equipment.

[Pablo Torre]

So we're talking like WI fi routers.

[Sam Koppelman]

Routers and switches and radios and antennae with full local control and privacy. More on why that matters in a minute. And basically what Pera did is he helped spread Internet connectivity to remote areas around the globe.

[Pablo Torre]

And so in the world of tech, what's his reputation like?

[Sam Koppelman]

Back in 2012, one former member of Ubiquiti's board of directors, the legendary investor Bill Gurley of Benchmark Capital, he tweeted that Robert Pera is, quote, the most successful entrepreneur in Silicon Valley that you don't know.

[Pablo Torre]

Right? And so 2012 happens to be the same year when Robert Pera bought the Memphis grizzlies at age 34, which made him, and this was the thing that first put him on my radar before he disappeared off of it entirely. It made him the youngest controlling owner in the history of the NBA.

[Sam Koppelman]

A kid owner.

[Pablo Torre]

I'm an NBA super fan. I believe it's the greatest sport in the world. Just from a fan perspective, from players perspective, Memphis as a city, it's unbelievable. The people have been great. I can tell the community is really special. And those two things combined, I consider myself very, very fortunate. Probably the luckiest man in the world right now.

[Sam Koppelman]

That's Robert Pera doing a Lou Gehrig.

[Pablo Torre]

Impression, by the way. Super clean shaven, boyish, he is this baby faced billionaire. And so when Para bought the Grizzlies alongside a group of minority owners, including Memphis native and literal boy band superstar Justin Timberlake, who bought less than a 3% stake, Pera was less than four years older than Tony Allen, who was the team's best defender and also clearly just one of the most popular people in Memphis.

[Sam Koppelman]

The Grindfather.

[Pablo Torre]

When I started talking to you, Sam, about the angle that you were reporting on this story, which we will get to, I just want to admit to everybody, like I didn't know a ton about Robert Pera either. And so I started making some calls and pretty soon four people around the Grizzlies told me the same story, which is that a very frustrated Robert Pera wanted to actually buy out his minority owners at one point because he had met a woman who thought that Justin Timberlake and not Robert Pera was the actual real owner of the Memphis Grizzlies.

[Sam Koppelman]

Yeah, Robert Pera wanted to make it very clear that he was the one bringing sexy back to Memphis. Him and Zach Randolph.

[Pablo Torre]

Yes. And so I should say that we hear Palator finds out, did reach out to the Grizzlies about the more basketball related stuff that'll be in today's episode. And they did not respond. Yeah, and this all tracks because Mr. Invisible does not show up in public anymore. Really? He's not spotted at games, he's not holding pressers. And that is extremely different. You need to understand from how he started his tenure because there was this one day in September 2013, Sam, when the 6 foot 3. To his credit, 6 foot 3 Robert Pera logged. Yeah, he's a strapping young owner and he logs on to Twitter. And Robert Pera has since deleted these tweets. But I want you to first examine a copy of his old Twitter avatar because I think it's important for people just to visually, if you're just listening to this visually understand how he presents himself.

[Sam Koppelman]

So Robert Perez, Twitter avatar is a picture of Robert Perez shooting a basketball where I have to admit, his form is incredible. This Guy's elbow couldn't be more in if he tried. He looks like Dirk Nowitzki, down to the shooting sleeve on his left arm, showing he's not one of these noobs who thinks that you got to put the shooting sleeve on your shooting arm.

[Pablo Torre]

No.

[Sam Koppelman]

And he's mid jump shot, about to release.

[Pablo Torre]

Yeah. Wearing like tactical sleeveless Nike gear as well.

[Sam Koppelman]

Yes. And you can see some biceps in the photos.

[Pablo Torre]

Absolutely. And so here are the tweets that this avatar set out.

[Sam Koppelman]

September 9, 2013. Hey, Grindfather at AA000G9, presumably Tony Allen. How about we play one on one in Memphis before training camps start? I'll spot you a couple baskets to make it a game.

[Pablo Torre]

And for people who just don't know the legend of Tony Allen, the dude was the best perimeter defender in the NBA. One of the most terrifying people to encounter in sports. And so what the Grindfather does is he replies in a tweet that has notably not yet been deleted. And he says this.

[Sam Koppelman]

That's free money. Exclamation point, exclamation point, boss.

[Pablo Torre]

But what everyone sort of realized pretty immediately in this exchange was that even though Robert Barra had never played college basketball, this game, like that shooting sleeve was not a bit The Grizzlies front office, the coaching staff, the NBA League office, I am told none of them wanted this to happen. According to another former Grizzlies employee who has played in pickup games against Para Quote, Robert kind of liked to swing his elbows in a way that could start fights. And Tony is the last person in the league you want to with. I just think Robert had no idea how badly an NBA player would kick his ass. He really just didn't know. End quote. So Pera had his increasingly panicked. Imagine being the PR staff for the Grizzlies, and you got this new boss. And one of his first directives is, hey, not only make a press release, but make this. You're holding now, Sam. A printed out fight poster.

[Sam Koppelman]

Yeah, I mean, this looks like it's the Thriller in Manila. Except you've got Para in the identical outfit to his Twitter avatar. Also says that you, the viewer can watch live on Grizzlies.com or listen live on ESPN Radio, 92.9 FM. And the $100,000 Tony Allen ultimately chose the charity, the Children's Research Hospital.

[Pablo Torre]

Yes.

[Sam Koppelman]

And a fun detail on the bottom.

[Pablo Torre]

Right corner, there's a seal.

[Sam Koppelman]

Yes. A stamp that says special guest referee Zach Randolph.

[Pablo Torre]

What I was told is that Robert Pera, in advance of this event actually consulted with a longtime NBA trainer named David Thorpe, who I talked to about this to discuss conditioning and strategy. He was training to beat the Grindfather, his own employee. And by the way, on our YouTube channel, just so you get a sense of Robert Pera's actual, like, basketball abilities in action, practicing on the Grizzlies practice court, also, again, as always, wearing that same shooting sleeve. Six, two. Among the ranks of NBA owners who are not named Michael Jordan, Robert Pera is actually clearly pretty good at basketball for sure. And what happens? About two hours before the Battle on the Bluff was set to start, as they were calling this a one on one game, and Grizzly staffers, by the way, had set up chairs all around the practice facility, the team winds up posting a new and definitely sadder press release because the Battle on the Bluff gets canceled.

[Sam Koppelman]

Yeah. Cause the grandfather would have definitely played real defense on Para.

[Pablo Torre]

Yes.

[Sam Koppelman]

And it would have been a very awkward video to exist out in the world.

[Pablo Torre]

Everybody knew that the grandfather wasn't gonna be one of the Russian goalies playing hockey against Vladimir Putin.

[Sam Koppelman]

It looks like that goalie literally takes a dive so that he doesn't save the goal against Vladimir Putin.

[Pablo Torre]

It's harder to imagine a more stark example of someone not wanting to beat their boss at something. And so the aftermath of this in which the billionaire doesn't get the thing that he wants to happen. Chris Manx of Sports Illustrated reported this. The person Robert Para apparently blamed for the collapse of his duel with Tony Allen was the head coach of the Grizzlies, who was a guy named Dave Jager. Robert Para, I am told, then tried to fire Dave Jager after the first five games of that 2013 season.

[Sam Koppelman]

Jager Bomb dropped.

[Pablo Torre]

And the person he offered Jager's job to was the aforementioned, would be trainer David Thorpe. And so I'm further told that Thorpe declined the offer and that cooler heads prevailed. But a couple weeks later, in October 2013, in a series of yet more deleted tweets, Robert Bara logs back onto Twitter and he turns his attention, Sam, to someone else.

[Sam Koppelman]

He says, what's with all the one on one with Mark Cuban talk? I'm in, but I would make quick work of him.

[Pablo Torre]

And there's another Robert Pera tweet that same day in October 2013.

[Sam Koppelman]

If we're talking an owner game, get me MJ. I'll up the charity contribution to $1 million. Can you imagine the emotional journey St. Jude's Children's Hospital is on? Suddenly they went from 100k to zero. Now, millions on the line.

[Pablo Torre]

I'm so mad that none of this happens because Michael Jordan's response to the Charlotte observer of course is quote, I think that's comical.

[Sam Koppelman]

It didn't make any sense. Why would I play one on one?

[Pablo Torre]

And so eventually, Robert Pera resorts to getting himself into the 2015 Celebrity All Star Game here in New York. And he leads his team to a win. But the MVP trophy goes apparently. I just think by NBA decree, it always must go to Kevin Hart. And so it does. And then Pera ends up tweeting a two second video of himself dunking. Yes, sir, this is 2016. But at some point in the decade since then, it just feels like mystery. Invisible Seville comes to this realization that he should focus on the arena, where he might actually dominate. And this happens to make Robert Pera in retreat, one of the five richest owners in American sports, with a net worth now of more than $30 billion.

[Sam Koppelman]

And Ubiquiti, which most listeners probably haven't heard of, is a $34 billion American tech company hiding in plain site. They don't take earnings calls or have bank coverage. And yet Ubiquiti's devices are truly ubiquitous. They can be spotted in garages and broom closets and backyards across the world.

[Pablo Torre]

And so you talk about the routers, the dishes, the antenna. It's just funny because everybody I've talked to who work for the Grizzlies, they have like various criticisms of Robert Para, but they just love ubiquitous technology because Per at one point gave his employees as a gift these devices, which work phenomenally well.

[Sam Koppelman]

It seems there's like ubiquity super fans out there today.

[Pablo Torre]

We're going to be having a look.

[Sam Koppelman]

At what is in this box who are making YouTube videos where they don't just plug these in and show you how to work them. These are what you get in the box. This one here is a little bit more like getting a Lego kit. So we'll show you how to put it all together as well. Just watch this YouTube video from influencer Imate Vince. Hi there, my name's vince from mymate vince.com and in this almost a million subscribers called quote trying long distance wi fi in London using ubiquity light beams around Richard's house. He has really good Internet access, my brother's house, unfortunately signal is absolutely awful. They try to jerry rig ubiquity devices to their homes, to various areas where they live because they just like these devices so much. So that's it up on the pole and plugged in, you can see little blue lights. Now we're going to go to Paul's house and we're going to be putting the dish on his side, pointing in this direction.

[Pablo Torre]

And I just want people to understand what this specific light beam ubiquity. Light beam device looks like, Sam, because how would you describe.

[Sam Koppelman]

Yeah, it's basically like a flat rectangle reflector with a small cylinder sticking out front.

[Pablo Torre]

Yeah. I would say imagine there's like a dish that's kind of like flat and then there's this dildo just coming out of the center of it.

[Sam Koppelman]

A dildo in a dish?

[Pablo Torre]

Yeah, with a ubiquity U. The logo, the U right at the tip facing outwards.

[Sam Koppelman]

Yes. And this is where the radio lives and where the signal is sent and received. So it's kind of like a radio and antenna combined.

[Pablo Torre]

But the big important takeaway here is that these things apparently are very effective.

[Sam Koppelman]

Although what's so weird is that when we asked one NBA owner about Robert Pere, we didn't even ask about ubiquity.

[Pablo Torre]

Right.

[Sam Koppelman]

He said to us, unprompted, quote, no one knows where their sales come from.

[Pablo Torre]

Which is a great premise for an episode and also a good reason to come back around to the incredible athlete we mentioned before, who loves increasingly sophisticated weapons.

[Sam Koppelman]

Vladimir Putin, who's military, it turns out, happens to be Ubiquiti's biggest fan.

[Pablo Torre]

I actually want to start the story of your investigation here with another video from a Russian state run media network which also happens to broadcast sports like hockey and soccer. But in this specific case is showing what.

[Sam Koppelman]

So this is a News segment from October 10, 2025. And what you see standing amid the ruins of an abandoned plant in the occupied Ukrainian territory of Donbass, which is.

[Pablo Torre]

A long way from Memphis, is a.

[Sam Koppelman]

Russian soldier, a signalman, and on his vest is a chevron, which is like.

[Pablo Torre]

A badge of sorts.

[Sam Koppelman]

Yes, Of a Russian special forces unit, their elite military intelligence agency. The gruff. And this soldier, in an interview is describing the importance of their job. Quote, a break in communications means total loss of control over combat operations.

[Pablo Torre]

And the reporter is saying what?

[Sam Koppelman]

The reporter agrees. They say, quote, no communication, no front. But what I want to draw your attention to is look at this other shot of an antenna a bit later in the news segment, it's on this tower. And Pablo, if you look closely at it, what do you see?

[Pablo Torre]

Yeah, you see the signature ubiquity U on the tip of this dildo shaped device. As we're watching this soldier climb up.

[Sam Koppelman]

This tower, this is the popular antenna that helps Robert Pera make his fortune.

[Pablo Torre]

The technology that made him his billions, that made him the youngest owner in NBA history.

[Sam Koppelman]

And it also, we have figured out, is the choice wireless antenna for the Russian military.

[Pablo Torre]

These products are allegedly being used to do what by Russia in Ukraine.

[Sam Koppelman]

This is the question we spent six months investigating. And what we found is that the Ubiquiti radio bridge antenna serve critical communications needs for the Russian military. It's basically like a long invisible Ethernet cable between two places. And it actually works up to 18 miles apart, which is clutch in a war zone, particularly a war zone where you need WI fi to do things like fly drones. And what ubiquity this American company is doing is it's helping power Russia's communications grid. And what experts told us is that this enables precision drone attacks against Ukrainian civilians. The types of massacres of innocent people that the UN has called crimes against humanity.

[Pablo Torre]

And so what I'm imagining as I hear you explain this is something that is familiar to anybody who's been like, I guess, out in the woods and your cell phone reception is bad, your signal's. And you wish you had like a wifi connectivity because that is what Ubiquiti's devices are enabling in this drone war in Ukraine.

[Sam Koppelman]

Yeah, that's kind of exactly what's going on here. This is how drones called first person view drones work. They stream real time video of where the drone is going over a radio link so that you can pilot the drone over long distances. And where Ubiquiti's radio bridges come in is that they allow the pilot to share that video to headquarters and to other people in the military so they can coordinate attacks, do reconnaissance and avoid enemy fire. We actually spoke to a Ukrainian soldier currently in the war zone who told us at Hunter Brook that without ubiquity, these drones from Russia, the ones leading to these massacres, they would not work, quote, they'd be flying blind.

[Pablo Torre]

And the issue of drones is not just something that you're taking interest in. Here is President Zelensky of Ukraine warning, but weapons are evolving faster than our ability to defend ourselves. Now there are tens of thousands of people who know how to professionally kill using drones.

[Sam Koppelman]

We actually interviewed a woman who lived in a Ukrainian city bordering occupied Crimea, where drone attacks on residents have been so frequent, they've earned the gruesome moniker human safari. More than 3,000 civilians in that city have been struck by Russian drones since December 2023. And this Ukrainian woman told us, quote, they just mercilessly shell this poor city and poor people. No one is protected from this.

[Pablo Torre]

And so the next video that we got to play here to fully understand what modern warfare is like is a clip that's not from a Russian drone, but from a Ukrainian drone. Because, Sam, what we're seeing through this camera here, as this Ukrainian drone flies through the air to a soundtrack, incidentally, that I think Americans might find familiar.

[Sam Koppelman]

Is what it turns out the Ukrainian military has similar taste in music to someone else known for taking on the Russians, Rocky Balboa.

[Pablo Torre]

Yes.

[Sam Koppelman]

And it's a video of a drone approaching a church steeple, which our team geolocated and identified as the Church of Elijah the Prophet near the contested border between Ukraine and Russia. And this church steeple is housing what looks like more than a dozen ubiquity antennas.

[Pablo Torre]

Yeah, it looks like an infestation of these devices. Like a bunch of my mate Vinces jerry rigged this thing together.

[Sam Koppelman]

Yes, and a close up of one of the antenna looks pretty identical to a by now familiar Ubiquiti radio bridge antenna model.

[Pablo Torre]

The Ubiquiti light beam is very clearly visible in this video.

[Sam Koppelman]

Yes, right down to the mounting hardware.

[Pablo Torre]

How omnipresent are they compared to other technologies? Like, I'm thinking of Starlink, made by Elon Musk, which offers satellite Internet, which would seem to be even stronger than Wi fi.

[Sam Koppelman]

Yeah, so one Ukrainian communications officer we spoke to who uses the call name Django, which really just shows Tarantino's influence knows no bounds. He told Hunter Brook, quote, there is simply no alternative. And he estimated that about 80% of Russian radio bridge antennae observed on the front line is ubiquity.

[Pablo Torre]

80% is staggering.

[Sam Koppelman]

These signalmen in Ukraine explained to us that most Western competitor brands are either too complicated to use, as you've seen, Ubiquiti, very easy to set up. Or like Starlink, Elon Musk's company, those devices can be disabled remotely. And what Django told us was, quote, ubiquiti is made for regular people. Basically plug and play. He said there were tons of tutorials.

[Pablo Torre]

On YouTube, which we have obviously found.

[Sam Koppelman]

But inside Russia these days, YouTube tutorials aren't the way young men communicate because the Russian backyard is a battlefield. And so instead they make telegram videos. And we found example after example of Russian military units begging for donations so they could buy more $65 Ubiquity products.

[Pablo Torre]

Yeah, look, I love an unboxing video. This seems like a different kind of variation on the genre.

[Sam Koppelman]

Different vibe.

[Pablo Torre]

Yeah, yeah. These are guys in a bunker. Holding these boxes, they're saying, quote, we.

[Sam Koppelman]

Thank the People's Militia Assistance Group for providing communications equipment in the form of ubiquity antennas.

[Pablo Torre]

And in fact, let's just play that for a second. You can hear him say, ubiquity. Ubiquity.

[Sam Koppelman]

Ubiquity. The soldier goes on to say, quote, reliable communications are the key to success. The enemy will be defeated. Victory will be ours.

[Pablo Torre]

Not super subtle in terms of the importance of the product as described.

[Sam Koppelman]

No, they pretty clearly just explain what's going on.

[Pablo Torre]

And the thing that I just want to explain here is, isn't Vladimir Putin, isn't the government itself actually supposed to pay for all this?

[Sam Koppelman]

Yeah, like why are there crowdfunding campaigns? Yes, it's because Russia is actually kind of broke right now. And so military units, even the top ones, they're saving Putin and the oligarchs funding the war money by begging for help to procure their own supplies. And based on our review of these telegram accounts, ones like the video you just saw, we found that 9 of the military units that received ubiquity gear or individuals associated with those units have been accused by human rights groups of having committed war crimes.

[Pablo Torre]

And so this is where I just need to acknowledge that by any objective measure, we have buried the lead of this story. We wanted to start with this as a sports story, and it still is. But just to be very clear, isn't it illegal in America to sell American devices exactly like this to the Russian military?

[Sam Koppelman]

Yeah, man. There are rules called sanctions, which are a way that the United States can try to stop its adversaries from getting access to technology that they might want to use in a war. And Russia has been sanctioned since before invading Ukraine, but especially since there are very tight export controls on what you're allowed to send to Russia. And they, of course, include the types of dual use devices like Ubiquiti's that the military might need to go do. Horrible.

[Pablo Torre]

And so how aware is Ubiquity with this entire issue?

[Sam Koppelman]

Yeah, Ubiquiti should definitely know about sanctions because they've actually had issues with them. Where in 2014, federal regulators fined Ubiquity for, quote, reckless disregard, end quote, of its compliant obligations when its products ended up in Iran. And at the time, Ubiquity was let off fairly easy. US authorities slapped them with just a 560,250 fine.

[Pablo Torre]

Yeah, that's like vanishingly small to Robert Pera, or to quote Tony Allen as he described their one on one game that never happened. Free money. Boss.

[Sam Koppelman]

But it kind of made sense at the time because it was Ubiquiti's first violation and the company took, quote, remedial action, according to the government. And what Ubiquiti said back then to investors was that if violations should occur in the future, the response of regulators may be more severe in light of prior compliance concerns.

[Pablo Torre]

And so I think the question now that we have to begin to answer is just how directly responsible Ubiquiti is.

[Sam Koppelman]

So if you're a big company, normally you have a massive team of compliance people who are in charge of making sure that your products don't violate export bans. But one of the weird things about Ubiquiti is how small the entire company is. They actually make more money per employee than like Nvidia. And we spoke to a former employee of Ubiquities who told us that almost no one worked in compliance there. The employee said, quote, all those processes you would see at large scale businesses, they don't really solve the problem. And this former employee added of Robert Pera, quote, the CEO of Ubiquiti recognizes that and just doesn't care about all the extra garbage.

[Pablo Torre]

And so what does Robert Pera recognize about what their products are being used to do?

[Sam Koppelman]

We reached out to Ubiquiti with detailed questions on their compliance practices and they didn't respond.

[Pablo Torre]

But we should note, I think, that in their SEC filings, Ubiquiti was very careful to say this, quote, we do not have any visibility on the location or extent of purchases of our products by individual network operators and service providers from our distributors, end quote.

[Sam Koppelman]

And Hunter Brook can report that according to trade records, Ubiquiti did halt direct shipments to Russia following the invasion without ever acknowledging that change. But their products still flowed into Russia, obviously through dozens of intermediaries, according to that Honor Brook analysis of trade data and over 10 legal and sanctions experts we talked to said that pleading ignorance. It's not a defensible argument, especially because as we mentioned, this is not the first time Ubiquiti devices ended up where they shouldn't.

[Pablo Torre]

Right. They got fined the half a million dollars or again, about what half of what Robert Pera was supposed to pay Michael Jordan if they had played one on one and lost. They got fined that much because the products ended up that time in Iran.

[Sam Koppelman]

Yeah. So 2011. Yeah. And then U.S. officials found out that Ubiquiti had sold products to a distributor who ended up sending them to Iran. And after that debacle, Robert Pera acknowledged that this was a huge problem. And in a rare interview with Forbes, he said, quote, this can't happen again. If it happens again, I'll be in trouble.

[Pablo Torre]

And so now the question for us becomes, how do you prove that this is in fact happening again?

[Sam Koppelman]

Obviously, we have the video that we played that clearly shows Ubiquiti's devices on the front lines. And we have trade data that shows millions and millions and millions of dollars of Ubiquiti equipment ending up in Russia. But we wanted to see exactly how this happens. How if you're a Russian soldier, right, and you're raising money on Telegram and you're desperate for that WI fi connection, how easy is it to get a ubiquity device? And so we went undercover.

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[Pablo Torre]

So we mentioned earlier Sam, that an MBA owner had told us of Robert Paris Co. Ubiquiti quote no one knows where their sales come from. And so in our effort to actually solve this mystery and find out where they're coming from, I do want to acknowledge that like Ubiquiti's sales team is now of interest to me. I know They're a lean company by design. But how does sales work?

[Sam Koppelman]

Yeah. So it's important to know that it's not just their compliance department. Ubiquiti also barely has a sales team and they rely on third party vendors to sell their devices.

[Pablo Torre]

Which means that if you were to say, order, I don't know, a dozen Ubiquiti light beam devices to, I don't know, say the church of Elijah the Prophet, you don't go directly to Robert Pera or to Ubiquiti.

[Sam Koppelman]

No, you go to one of their third party vendors that actually do a lot of their e commerce sales for them.

[Pablo Torre]

Which is to say like not grizzlies.com to get your official John Moran jersey, but grizzlies.ru exactly.

[Sam Koppelman]

Ubiquiti RU is one of the places from which we ordered Ubiquiti devices. When In October of 2025, after about a month of reporting on ubiquity, one of our reporters went undercover. He signed up for a Russian email account, used a vpn, posed as a Russian military officer who is ostensibly procuring goods to fight Ukraine, and he visited all of these third party websites, websites like ubiquiti.ru and just to be very.

[Pablo Torre]

Clear, from an ethics perspective, in case it's not obvious, I consider personally this kind of undercover journalism really important because I don't know of another way to pressure test the hypothesis of this is how these products are getting from America to Russia under life and death circumstances.

[Sam Koppelman]

Correct. Hunter Brooks, reporter who is staying anonymous for obvious reasons.

[Pablo Torre]

Right.

[Sam Koppelman]

Contacted a dozen Russian e commerce sites openly selling ubiquity items. And one of the first vendors we reached in our undercover reporting was a woman named Nina Kuznetsova. So here's the deal with Nina. She operates multiple Russian storefronts with domain names like Ubiquiti Ruin. And she openly sells Ubiquiti products that have been banned from export to Russia since the war began.

[Pablo Torre]

And we're looking at the website now and it is covered in Ubiquiti's logo. I mean, there's the big U that we've seen over and over again. There is again the dildo shaped antenna. These are official Ubiquiti products. And when you click on the English translation on the website, you even get a contact page with an office in Moscow.

[Sam Koppelman]

Yeah, Nina isn't operating in the shadows here. We didn't have to go sign up for some secret group chat to be able to contact her. We were able to actually do open source intelligence on her. And she appears to be doing quite well. She lives in an apartment on Leninsky Avenue in Moscow. Not going to be more specific, but it's one of the most iconic streets in the city. And then we actually found social media pages belonging presumably to her son and business partner, Andre, who's been posting photos from trips to Bali and Istanbul.

[Pablo Torre]

When you check the timeline here, it's important to point out that these trips appear to be taken during the war, living a pretty comfortable life, while the technology, the American technology from Robert Perra that they're selling, is being linked to what the UN has been calling, again, crimes against humanity.

[Sam Koppelman]

Yeah. And Nina was eager to help our undercover reporter and to prove her bona fides, to show that her products were the real deal and actually reaching the front lines. Nina was basically sending us evidence that her S was good. Like a weed dealer who comes over with a briefcase. Except she's not slinging Purple Haze Alaskan Thunder. Sure. She's slinging Wi Fi antennae, to be specific.

[Pablo Torre]

But just what was she sending you?

[Sam Koppelman]

So you remember that video that we started this whole conversation with from Russian state media showing the GRU soldier that actually came to us from Nina? She wanted us to see this is legitimate military equipment. This is what troops are actually using. And when we asked about alternatives, she was blunt. She said, quote, there are no stable, inexpensive alternatives to this manufacture, which is.

[Pablo Torre]

An incredible review for the product, much to the disappointment, on some level, to Elon Musk.

[Sam Koppelman]

And they specified, quote, 95% of shipments to the SVO are ubiquity.

[Pablo Torre]

And the SVO, just to clarify here, is.

[Sam Koppelman]

Yeah, that's the Russian euphemism for the war against Ukraine. Special Military Operations. But even after Nina gave us that 95% number, we kind of just wanted to see what she'd tell us if we kept pushing.

[Pablo Torre]

Right.

[Sam Koppelman]

If we really leaned into quality control.

[Pablo Torre]

Yeah. What would happen if you didn't take yes for an answer?

[Sam Koppelman]

Exactly. So once our undercover reporter had this tech gear saleswoman in the upscale Moscow apartment, showing us how much Putin's special ops guys loved using it, we ended up asking if she had any other evidence that these devices were safely being delivered to Russian soldiers.

[Pablo Torre]

You mean something clearer than the video? That seems pretty clear of these Russian soldiers using these devices.

[Sam Koppelman]

Yeah. And you know, Pablo, how when you're reporting a story, you hope there's going to be a true smoking gun?

[Pablo Torre]

Yes.

[Sam Koppelman]

Like if you had that picture of Steve Ballmer handing Kawhi a check.

[Pablo Torre]

Novelty check.

[Sam Koppelman]

Yeah. Saying, like, do not do work for aspiration. They Must pay you to not show up on this one. We actually got one of the craziest smoking guns I've ever seen.

[Pablo Torre]

So what qualifies as a true smoking gun in this story?

[Sam Koppelman]

Nina sent us thank you letters thanking her for providing equipment to troops fighting in Ukraine.

[Pablo Torre]

And so right now on our YouTube channel, you can see the thank you letter that Nina received from. These are Russian soldiers who wanted to make this very official. Looking insofar as this thing has a crown and a crest, and I think that's a tiny dragon holding a sword, it looks medieval in how official it is.

[Sam Koppelman]

And it's a letter specifically from Russia's 623rd Interspecific Regional Training Center. It's addressed to Nina thanking her for providing, quote, wireless bridges for Russian servicemen in Ukraine. Which is exactly what Ubiquiti sells.

[Pablo Torre]

It seems clear.

[Sam Koppelman]

And there's another one. This is a letter from a Russian company called Valtech.

[Pablo Torre]

And this one is far more corporate. It has Valtech's letterhead across the top. And it has, you know, like, a letter of recommendation that you would hope that your boss writes for you, confirming.

[Sam Koppelman]

That the radio bridges Nina transferred to them were, quote, sent to the combat zone and were, quote, ensuring reliable communications in critical situations.

[Pablo Torre]

And I just need to keep on stressing this. You guys refuse to stop finding out about this.

[Sam Koppelman]

Yeah, we, like, wanted to make triple, quadruple, quintuple sure that Ubiquiti was really selling these devices. So Nina wasn't the only vendor we contacted. We actually reached out to a dozen Russian e commerce sites. Many had Ubiquiti right in the domain name ubnt.ruubiquity-russia.com, ru ubiquity.ru we gave each one the same proposition. A Russian military unit needs prohibited ubiquity equipment for operations in occupied Ukrainian territories.

[Pablo Torre]

And what was their response like?

[Sam Koppelman]

Almost all of them confirmed our shopping list and promised delivery to the war zone in as little as a week.

[Pablo Torre]

Amazon prime level expediency.

[Sam Koppelman]

Yeah, I will note that one vendor actually set a condition. They said, we will only do it if you give us an order of over $100,000.

[Pablo Torre]

And why do they set that standard, that minimum?

[Sam Koppelman]

It's funny because this is a direct translation. They said, quote, you're asking for sanctioned equipment. We carry orders starting at $100,000.

[Pablo Torre]

And so given that this is an admission of sanctions evasion, essentially, and given that this is not the only example of written acknowledgement of what this is all about here, does Robert Pera the owner of the Memphis Grizzlies, know that this is happening.

[Sam Koppelman]

Our team at Hunter Brook reached out to Robert Pera's company with detailed questions and they didn't respond. Look, we have a relatively small newsroom. Small but mighty. But we figured this out with a team of a few incredible reporters. You'd think that a 35 or so billion dollar company could trace its own devices if they wanted to figure out where they were going.

[Pablo Torre]

Yeah, the thing I have learned about finding out is that you need to want to find out.

[Sam Koppelman]

You can't just put on earmuffs and figure out what's happening. But these guys should know this. And that's true, in part because Pablo, it's not just the Russian distributors selling these devices to Russian soldiers.

[Pablo Torre]

And this is the other important part of this chain of custody, which is if you're a Russian soldier at the warfront, can you order these devices from American Ubiquity suppliers?

[Sam Koppelman]

So we actually called up one ubiquity distributor in America.

[Multi Link Solutions Representative]

Thank you for reaching Multi Link Solutions.

[Sam Koppelman]

Inc. Multi Link Solutions, it's an Ohio based official Ubiquiti reseller.

[Pablo Torre]

And so what's happening here? What are we hearing?

[Multi Link Solutions Representative]

Hello, good morning, I'm going from Solutions. We missed a call from this number. You need to speak about devices, is that correct?

[Sam Koppelman]

Hunter Brook reporter posing as a Russian customer is asking about 450 Ubiquiti devices.

[Multi Link Solutions Representative]

But we are authorized, indirectly partnered with Ubiquiti. We only carry US version, so I believe that's already provided to you that information. So once payment is received, we will proceed with shipping on the order.

[Sam Koppelman]

And initially the multilink rep says that they can deliver these to Russia.

[Multi Link Solutions Representative]

Yeah, I mean you can use your own carrier if you want. And yeah, we can ship to Moscow to no problem.

[Pablo Torre]

Which is an incredible thing to say to a stated Russian customer for all the sanctions reasons.

[Sam Koppelman]

So I want to be clear that they followed up saying they couldn't ship directly to Russia.

[Multi Link Solutions Representative]

So I am honestly saying that we have not exported before to Russia. So I am not sure if there will be any, you know, delays or, you know, any expected problems with the delivery.

[Sam Koppelman]

It's not like FedEx was going to agree to that shipment, but there was some wiggle room.

[Multi Link Solutions Representative]

Yes, let's figure out the best shipping method over there and make sure like, you know, all the products that you're.

[Sam Koppelman]

Looking for, for everything, where they could send these products to the Russian end customers through an intermediary third country.

[Multi Link Solutions Representative]

Is there anything else I can help you with?

[Pablo Torre]

Right, so here's the email from Sales Multilink to your undercover Hunter book reporter and it reads, quote, we may be able to use the alternative countries provided. Please provide the full address to provide shipping estimate.

[Sam Koppelman]

So we provided an address in Turkey and Multilink sent an invoice confirming delivery.

[Pablo Torre]

And this is an invoice for 450 devices that you ordered at the grand total of 79,988American dollars.

[Sam Koppelman]

Again, to be very explicit here, they still thought we were Russian. And they know that you're not allowed to sell these devices to Russia. So instead they sell them to us as Russians through an intermediary address in Turkey. And this is bread and butter. Sanctions evasion. This is literally in the guidance on sanction evasion.

[Pablo Torre]

Red flags, right? Just like what if instead of giving you the money directly, we funneled it through another entity? Which is to say that in this case what you're reporting is that an American company, an official ubiquity reseller, actually agreed to help circumvent U.S. sanctions.

[Sam Koppelman]

Yes.

[Pablo Torre]

And to make this all now again a sports story, it brings us back to that NBA owner who told us, quote, no one knows where their sales are from.

[Sam Koppelman]

Yeah, I told that owner Pablo that we now know where at least some of those sales are coming from. And the answer is Russia.

[Pablo Torre]

Which raises a question, which is what is the NBA now going to do about any of this?

[Commercial Announcer]

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[Advertiser Voice]

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[Sam Koppelman]

Full Disclosure as we mentioned, every time I'm on this show, Hunter Brook has a fun business model that sometimes involves taking positions long or short in the companies we report on. You can see our disclosures about all of that on our website, hunterbrook.com, where you can also subscribe to our I'll just say, pretty awesome investigative reporting.

[Pablo Torre]

So the one thing that I find myself thinking about a lot in reporting this show is the notion of consequences.

[Sam Koppelman]

The around and then the finding out.

[Pablo Torre]

Yes, it's the question of if you're the billionaire owner of an NBA team whose boss is actually your employee, meaning the commissioner of the league, Adam Silver, for instance, what kind of accountability is even possible in the event that wrongdoing is reported and established? What happens to you when you have more money and more power? In some cases, such as, I don't know, one of the top five richest owners in all the sports, Robert Pera, then nations themselves.

[Sam Koppelman]

And I think it's interesting to compare the accountability that owners face to the accountability reserved for players. Take for instance, Grizzlies star Ja Moran.

[Pablo Torre]

Yeah, the issue here for Jaw is just that, that flexing his recidivism in said flexing cost him about $8 million in salary on account of those suspensions. And also, by the way, he was forced to apologize, including in a very memorable ESPN interview.

[Sam Koppelman]

Whose gun were you holding?

[Pablo Torre]

The gun wasn't mine. It's not who I am. I don't condone any type of violence.

[Sam Koppelman]

But I take full responsibility for my.

[Pablo Torre]

Actions made up, you know, bad mistake. And so what we return to after seeing that video is the problem of violence in the NBA. And here's the question, Sam, will Robert Pera, who employs the guy who had to apologize for waving around guns, will that billionaire owner be forced to answer for your reporting?

[Sam Koppelman]

And here the government might really do something they did last time when Ubiquiti's devices started showing up in Iran. And the reason the penalty was soft back then was because it was a first offense. As Paris said at the time, if this happens again, I'm in trouble. And it happened again.

[Pablo Torre]

The thing I've been finding out in my other reporting on various NBA scandals, from gambling to alleged cap circumvention, is that the thing the league office is most afraid of, it seems, is whether the US Government might make them look stupid depending on how they choose to punish or not punish.

[Sam Koppelman]

And this raises another question. It's the question that I came here to talk to you about the reason I wanted to work on this story with you, and it's this. Does the NBA commissioner care more about a player brandishing a gun on Instagram or if one of his billionaire bosses is enabling Vladimir Putin's war on Ukraine.

[Pablo Torre]

To return to how we started this whole episode, is Adam Silver going to accept this challenge like Tony Allen or like a diving goalie? This has been Pablo Torre Finds Out a Meadowlark Media production and I'll talk to you next time.

[Commercial Announcer]

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[Advertiser Voice]

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