Kevin O’Leary reveales he lost $15 million paid to him by the now-defunct crypto exchange FTX

Kevin O’Leary, a Canadian entrepreneur, Shark Tank judge, and CNBC contributor, recently revealed that he lost $15 million paid to him by the now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX.

On CNBC, O’Leary mentioned that he was hired as a spokesperson for the exchange, which had a $32 billion empire, but the investors soon sued him and other celebrities, including Tom Brady, for failing to do their due diligence before promoting the exchange owned by Bankman-Fried.

O’Leary confessed to succumbing to “groupthink” and not one of his investment partners suffered a loss. Hosts of CNBC Squawk Box lambasted him on the show for not conducting a thorough evaluation of FTX prior to investing.

The entire transaction amounted to approximately $15 million of which he used $9.7 million to invest in crypto. Unfortunately, the remaining $4 million went to taxation fees and an additional $1 million was lost in FTX equity.

Celebrities had been vigorously advocating for FTX when it became one of the major players in the cryptocurrency space.

O’Leary reported that the $4 million leftovers were used to cover taxation fees, and he lost an additional $1 million in FTX equity.

When the company was advertised by celebrities as the biggest player in the crypto industry, the doomsday era of FTX began.

Furthermore, Fried was investigated for his involvement in the fall of TerraUST and LUNA in May. Despite his mishandling of billions in customer funds, Bankman-Fried remains unscathed.

This further prompted various global nations to push for a more effective regulatory structure for the cryptocurrency business.