Shark Tank Kevin O’Leary Make A U Turn On FTX And SBF

Bill Ackman and Kevin O’Leary, two powerful investors, say they believe Sam Bankman-Fried when he claims he was unaware of sister company Alameda Research’s risky bets.

They tweeted their support for Bankman-Fried after the former head of a cryptocurrency exchange refuted accusations of wrong doing in an eagerly awaited interview at the New York Times Dealbook Summit.

I lost millions as an investor in @FTX and got sandblasted as a paid spokesperson for the firm but after listening to that interview I’m in the @billAckman camp about the kid! https://t.co/5lWzTT7JEv

— Kevin O'Leary aka Mr. Wonderful (@kevinolearytv) December 1, 2022

Bankman-Fried file for bankruptcy

Authorities are clearly looking into FTX for possible wrong handling of customer funds because billions of dollars are still missing. After The Wall Street Journal reported that Alameda’s CEO told employees that loans were being raised. Also, a crucial question is whether those clients’ funds were used by Alameda to cover those loans.

Bankman-Fried claimed in the Dealbook interview that the situation resulted from an accounting error and that he had not intentionally mixed up funds.

Following the collapse of Bankman-once-$32 Fried’s billion-dollar FTX empire in November due to a liquidity crisis, his actions have come under scrutiny. Fears have been raised about other crypto firms being impacted by its shocking collapse.

Bankman-Fried resigned as CEO concurrently with the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filings by FTX and Alameda Research last month. In court documents, his successor, John J. Ray III, claimed that he had never in his career witnessed “such a complete failure of corporate controls and such a complete absence of trustworthy financial information” as took place at the company.

Kevin O’Leary claims FTX is 100% auditable

The fall down of FTX rocked the cryptocurrency market over the past month. However, information about poor management and governance has been slowly appear from the bankruptcy proceedings. FTX allegedly mixed customer funds with those of Alameda Research, Bankman-crypto-trading Fried’s arm, despite having no internal accounting department.

According to Reuters, FTX spent $100 million on opulent vacation homes for its employees in the Bahamas. However, at least $1 billion in customer funds disappeared from the exchange in the days after it filed for debt.

O’Leary declare that FTX is “100% auditable” despite its disorganised financials because crypto transactions are documented in a public ledger on the blockchain.