Kevin O’Leary defends SBF, says FTX should be audited

In an interview with Yahoo Finance on Dec. 6, Shark Tank's Kevin O'Leary called for calm following the FTX collapse. The exchange's former chief executive, Sam Bankman-Fried, should be presumed innocent unless evidence comes to light that he has committed fraud, O'Leary said. Sam Bankman-Fried is also known as "SBF".

O'Leary called for an audit of FTX to reveal where the money from the exchange went so investors can get their funds back.

The narrative about the @FTX_Official The situation is rapidly changing from "throw everyone in jail" to "where's my money?" Time for a forensic audit and some facts! pic.twitter.com/MdHy4Dqt5F

— Kevin O'Leary aka Mr. Wonderful (@kevinolearytv) December 6, 2022

On November 30 and December 1, SBF had taken several interviews in which he stated that he is not guilty of fraud. This had sparked a backlash in the crypto community. But O'Leary defended SBF in this new interview, saying he is "innocent until proven guilty." He explained:

“I am of the ilk and of the group of people who say, you are innocent until proven guilty. That's what I think. And I want the facts. So if you tell me you didn't do, did, or didn't do something, I'll believe you until I find out it's a falsehood."

O'Leary stated that due to blockchain technology, all transactions on the exchange "are 100% auditable," and once this audit is done, the truth about FTX will be known. So if someone broke the law, they will be prosecuted.

He argued that investors will be able to recover at least some of their money if an audit is carried out.

“We are going to get that money back,” he said. “That is exactly what is going to happen. I am not the only institution in this situation. We all want our road to recovery. We need a road to recovery, but we don't have one."

Before its bankruptcy, FTX was the second largest crypto exchange in the world by volume. But from November 2 to 11, a series of events led to it not being possible to process withdrawals. subsequently declared bankrupt, and billions of dollars of investor capital are now tied up in these bankruptcy proceedings. The bankruptcy filings show that the company may have more than 1 million creditorsof which Kevin O'Leary is one.