Investor, “Shark Tank” judge and CNBC contributor Kevin O’Leary said on Thursday that he lost all of the $15 million FTX paid him to act as a paid spokesperson. give has now collapsed exchange that cryptocurrency some have called cheating.
O’Leary and other celebrities, such as Tom Brady and Larry David, have been sued by FTX investors, who say the exchange’s ambassadors should have worked harder and been more honest. show a higher level of interest before promoting a crypto empire.
Canadian investors were “stoned” by “ink pot“ endorses his failure to properly appreciate the risks involved in investing and promoting FTX. O’Leary said he fell prey to “collective thinking” and none of his investment partners lost money.
“The total transaction was just under $15 million, all in all,” O’Leary said Thursday morning on CNBC’s “” show.ink pot.” “I invested about $9.7 million in crypto. I think that’s what I lost. I do not know. All at zero.”
O’Leary also said he has more than $1 million in FTX equity, which is now worthless by bankruptcy protection. According to O’Leary, a balance of slightly more than $4 million was eaten up by taxes and agency fees.
O’Leary has heavily promoted FTX on Twitter and online, revealing his close relationship with disgraced founder Sam Bankman-Fried, who is facing multiple investigations.
When O’Leary first started promoting FTX, he said that it was FTX’s compliance system that attracted him to invest in the crypto exchange.
“Finally solved my compliance issue with #cryptocurrency“O’Leary wrote on LinkedIn and in a deleted tweet in August 2021.
Finally, Delaware’s bankruptcy filing by FTX’s new CEO, John Ray, will call FTX’s compliance, audit, and risk compliance processes “a complete failure of control. of the company.”
“It’s not a good investment,” O’Leary said Thursday.
