Shark Tank Star Kevin O’Leary Defends Support of Crypto Exchange FTX and Sam Bankman-Fried – Featured Bitcoin News

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Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary aka Mr. Wonderful has defended his support for collapsed crypto exchange FTX and its former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF). “This is America. The judicial system provides for the presumption of innocence unless proven otherwise,” he pointed out. O’Leary also denied Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ)’s accusation that he perjured himself during a US Senate hearing on why FTX failed.

Kevin O’Leary on the collapse of FTX

Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary defended his position as a spokesperson for collapsed crypto exchange FTX in an interview with CNBC on Friday. He also commented on Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) calling him a liar.

When asked why he didn’t vehemently condemn former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), O’Leary replied:

It’s America. The legal system provides for the presumption of innocence unless proven otherwise.

The former FTX executive was arrested in the Bahamas last week. The US government and several regulators have filed a number of fraud charges against him and his crypto exchange. O’Leary was FTX’s spokesperson and an investor in the stock market when it collapsed. The company paid him around $15 million to become its spokesperson, which the Shark Tank star says was lost when the exchange filed for bankruptcy.

When asked, “Are you still confusing the money you received from FTX that you lost, or did you actually invest some of your own funds?” the Shark Tank star replied, “Money is fungible.” CNBC’s Joe Kernen then noted, “So you didn’t. Again, you are a venture capitalist who ventured your name… You didn’t even pay your own tax money.

O’Leary was then questioned by Andrew Ross Sorkin: “What do you think happened? Do you believe it was a fraud? Emphasizing that he “doesn’t have the facts” and that FTX’s new CEO “doesn’t have them yet,” Mr. Wonderful replied:

I’m looking for my files. I’m willing to fund a forensic audit of our accounts. I would like to know what happened, of course. There are many bad things that have been alleged here. No questions about this. Some of them will be true, probably, because there’s no money there. Somewhere the money is gone.

O’Leary Responds to Binance CEO CZ’s Accusations

Following O’Leary’s testimony before the Senate Banking Committee stating that he believed FTX failed because rival Binance intentionally decommissioned it, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) called the star a Liar Shark Tank.

Mr. Wonderful pointed out:

Yesterday on air, CZ called me a liar. Then he suggested I perjure myself in front of the US Senate for 2 hours this week. I can assure you that is not the case.

“Another little parable here that you should understand,” O’Leary continued. He went on to explain that his biological father was Irish, adding that when he was young his father told him: “Son, never call an Irishman a liar unless you know for sure it’s true. ” The Shark Tank star then asked his dad, “Why is that daddy?” His father replied, “Because the Irish are crazy.”

Referring to CZ’s accusation, Mr. Wonderful pointed out, “I’m not happy about that,” adding:

In the end, I have no ill will towards this guy, but he is also part of the story.

Prior to FTX’s collapse, O’Leary almost secured $8 billion to save the crypto exchange from having to file for bankruptcy. He said that Bankman-Fried is one of the top traders in the crypto space and will back the FTX co-founder again if he has another venture.

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What do you think of Kevin O’Leary’s comments? Let us know in the comments section below.

Kevin Helms

An economics student from Austria, Kevin discovered Bitcoin in 2011 and has been an evangelist ever since. His interests include Bitcoin security, open source systems, network effects, and the intersection between economics and cryptography.

Image credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons

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