In a recent interview, celebrity investor Kevin O\u2019Leary\u00a0(aka \u201cMr. Wonderful\u201d on ABC TV series \u201cShark Tank\u201c) shared his thoughts on Sam Bankerman-Fried (aka \u201cSBF\u201d), the disgraced co-founder and former CEO of bankrupt crypto exchange FTX.<\/p>\n
On 10 August 2021, FTX Trading Ltd. (\u201cFTX.com\u201d) and West Realm Shires Services Inc. (\u201cFTX.US\u201d) owners and operators of FTX.COM and FTX.US respectively (collectively \u201cFTX\u201d),\u00a0announced\u00a0a long-term relationship with the Shark Tank star. The press release also mentioned that O\u2019Leary would be \u201ctaking an equity stake in both FTX Trading Ltd. & West Realm Shires Services Inc. along with being paid in crypto to serve as an ambassador and spokesperson for FTX.\u201d<\/p>\n
On 15 November 2022, O\u2019Leary\u00a0said\u00a0during an interview on YouTube series Crypto Banter:<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to mark-to-market in our operating company every 12 hours\u2026 So, we marked-to-market on Monday morning at nine o\u2019clock \u2013 zero on our investment in FTX international, zero on our investment in FTX USA, and zero on all assets, which had disappeared from our accounts. So, that was a tough day. That\u2019s a hit.<\/em>..<\/p>\n \u201cBut we have many, many investments. We have compliance that forces the discipline of diversification both on positions and on institutions. We don\u2019t own all our crypto on FTX \u2013 we don\u2019t do that because it\u2019s not compliant with us and our rules on how we operate our business\u2026\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cYes, I do think that this is the bottom. But here\u2019s what has to finish: we need the rest of the pieces\u2026 or the rest of the pine cones to fall from the tree. There are many, many forced liquidations coming in the next 10 days. I would argue the time to reposition, and this is a really interesting conversation I had with our auditors yesterday, we are obviously going to be taking this as a write-off, as a tax loss, there\u2019s no question about that\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cWe aren\u2019t going to re-establish our positions until 31 days later because this is the first year that the IRS and other tax regulators around the world are treating this asset in the same way they treat stocks. So I think there will be a lot of selling between now and mid-December.<\/em>\u201c<\/p>\n Surprisingly, the Shark Tank star had some nice things to say about SBF, according to a report by Bitcoin.com about the interview.<\/p>\n For example, at one point in the interview, Crypto Banter host Ran Neuner asked: <\/p>\n \u201cIf SBF knocked on your door again and said, \u2018Look I failed in my last venture, I have a new crypto venture, I need money,\u2019 would you back him?<\/em>\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n O\u2019Leary replied:<\/p>\n \u201cThe answer would be yes\u2026 I think we can all admit you can love them or hate them given what\u2019s happened\u2026 He was one of the most brilliant traders in the crypto universe. He also built one of the most robust platforms. We used FTX actively. It was a very robust platform that allowed us to get information on a compliant basis, so I really like what he built.<\/em>\u201c<\/p>\n O\u2019Leary said that next time he would invest in SBF \u201c\u201cin a different context,\u201d where SBF would have trading control but not \u201coperational control of the assets.\u201d <\/p>\n He went on to add:<\/p>\n