Kevin O’Leary, Canadian entrepreneur and judge on Shark Tank, disclosed on CNBC that he lost $15 million that was paid to him by the now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX.
The exchange was valued at $32 billion and was heavily promoted by celebrities such as Tom Brady and O’Leary.
However, investors sued them due to their lack of conducting proper due diligence before endorsing the exchange owned by SBF.
O’Leary confessed that he became a victim of “groupthink” and none of his investment partners were in the red. On CNBC Squawk Box, the hosts mocked him for not conducting a thorough examination of FTX prior to the investment.
He said, “The entire deal was approximately $15 million, including the $9.7 million I invested in cryptocurrencies. I don’t know the exact amount I lost; it is all worth zero.”
He added that the remaining $4 million went to taxes and he had also lost $1 million in FTX equity. Celebrities had been vigorously publicizing FTX when it was depicted as a major player in the crypto market.
According to O’Leary, the remaining $4 million was used to pay taxes, and he also lost $1 million in FTX equity.
Celebrities had been heavily promoting FTX as a major player in the cryptocurrency market when it released a picture.
FTX’s troubles didn’t end there, as Fried was under investigation for his supposedly responsible actions for the fall of TerraUST and LUNA in May.
Despite mismanaging billions of customer funds, Sam Bankman-Fried is still free. The downfall of the colossal cryptocurrency company also encouraged global nations to speed up the development of a regulatory framework.
