Shark Tank Star Kevin O’Leary and Billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman has been accused of saying he believes Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) told the truth that it “did not deliberately mix funds.” The former CEO of collapsed crypto exchange FTX also said he “didn’t know exactly what was going on” because he “didn’t run Alameda.”
Kevin O’Leary, Bill Ackman Defends Sam Bankman Freed
Shark Tank Star Kevin O’Leary aka Mr. Wonderful, Billionaire Hedge fund manager Bill Ackman was slammed Thursday They said former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) told the truth in an interview at The New York Times’ Dealbook Summit aired Wednesday night. Cryptocurrency exchange FTX filed for bankruptcy after failing on November 11. An estimated 1 million customers and investors lost billions in the exchange meltdown.
Bankman-Fried said in an interview that “the funds were not mixed on purpose.” He also shifts his responsibility to Alameda for his research, stating:
While most in the crypto community don’t believe his Bankman-Fried story, at least two of his prominent figures have spoken out in support of the former FTX CEO. Ackman, his CEO and portfolio manager at Pershing Square Capital Management, tweeted after the interview.
O’Leary quickly agreed, tweeting that he had lost millions as an investor in FTX and was sandblasted as a paid spokesperson for the cryptocurrency exchange. However, after listening to the interview, he made a point of agreeing with Ackman “about children.”
I disagreed with O’Leary and his Ackman. Some called them ‘idiots’, ‘idiots’ and ‘cheaters’. One wrote: He is almost 31 years old. I mean, he’s an adult. This isn’t a 23-year-old fresh graduate making trading errors at his desk. The story around this story really shouldn’t be.
“If I were the public spokesperson for what turned out to be Ponzi, I would hope the leader would walk away without criminal charges being filed against me.” unlikely) . Look at the incentives,” another person commented.
A third opinion is: All of these statements are a form of legal protection, and the interview was very carefully crafted. Obviously the latter is true. A fourth said, “You know nothing about how an exchange or hedge fund operates or how to protect investor assets, and what to the scammers who likely missed your money because of their utter incompetence. I gave him a million dollars, but I’m pretty sure he’s innocent.”
After the demise of FTX, O’Leary said that if he had another venture, he would call Bankman-Fried again. He said he supports it and said SBF is one of the best traders in the cryptocurrency industry. Wonderful recently revealed that he and his Bankman-Fried had raised nearly $8 billion of his before FTX collapsed.
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