Kevin O’Leary Reveals He Got Paid $15 Million to be FTX Spokesperson

• Shark Tank judge and Canadian entrepreneur Kevin O’Leary speaks about FTX’s demise.
• O’Leary was paid $15 million to be the spokesman of the now-defunct exchange.
• Post the collapse, he lost all of the $15 million.

Canadian entrepreneur, Shark Tank judge, and CNBC contributor Kevin O’Leary reveal that he lost $15 million that FTX paid him. He revealed on CNBC that the now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX paid him $15 million to be the exchange’s spokesperson.

However, things didn’t go as expected as the $32 billion empire collapsed, and all the celebrities that promoted it came under scrutiny. Celebrities including Tom Brady, Kevin O’Leary, and others were sued by the investors who stated that they failed to conduct due diligence before promoting Bankman-Fried’s exchange.

O’Leary admitted that he fell prey to “groupthink” and that not even one of his investment partners lost money. CNBC Squawk Box hosts also roasted him on the show for failing to do a proper analysis of FTX before making an investment.

Total deal was just under $15 million, all in. I put about $9.7 million into crypto. I think that’s what I lost. I don’t know. It’s all at zero.

According to O’Leary, the leftover $4 million was consumed as taxation fees, and he also lost $1 million in FTX equity. Celebrities were heavily promoting FTX when it gave out a picture as one of the largest cryptocurrency players.

FTX’s doomsday era doesn’t end there. Fried was also being investigated for his alleged actions that caused the fall of TerraUST and LUNA in May. Despite mishandling billions in customer funds, Sam Bankman-Fried is still free. The collapse of the cryptocurrency behemoth also triggered global nations to move for a quicker regulatory framework.