“Shark Tank” investor, 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 spokesperson for the company. has now collapsed exchange that cryptocurrency some have called cheating.
O’Leary and other celebrities, such as Tom Brady and Larry David, sued by FTX investors who say that exchange ambassadors should do more due diligence and exercise a higher degree of care before promoting the 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 says he fell prey to “collective thinking” and not one of his investment partners lost money.
“The total deal was just under $15 million, all in all,” O’Leary said. “I invested about $9.7 million in crypto. I think that’s how much I lost. I don’t know. It’s all zero.”
He also said he has more than $1 million in FTX equity, which has now been rendered 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 III will call FTX’s compliance, audit, and risk compliance procedures “a total failure of control.” of the company.”
“It’s not a good investment,” O’Leary said Thursday.
Disclosure: CNBC owns the offline cable TV rights to “Shark Tank”.
