‘Shark Tank’ Star Kevin O’Leary Says SEC Chairman Derailed His Attempt to Save FTX

Shark Tank star and venture capitalist Kevin O’Leary recently stated that he planned an attempt to save cryptocurrency exchange FTX hours before it filed for bankruptcy but held off following comments from SEC Chairman Gary Gensler.

Coindesk reports that Kevin O’Leary, venture capitalist and star of the popular Shark Tank TV series, recently discussed the collapse of the cryptocurrency firm FTX and his attempts to save the company which he abandoned following comments from SEC Chairman Gary Gensler.

O’Leary, who is also a paid spokesman, corporate account holder, and shareholder in the exchange, said that FTX was trying to settle its balance sheet and was short on cash. O’Leary says he spoke to former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried on Thursday just a day before the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Days previously, he said that he was attempting to make sense of the liquidity issue on the FTX balance sheet. O’Leary said that he was receiving ‘inbound requests’ from sovereign wealth and pension funds attempting to help FTX fix its liquidity crisis. Bankman-Fried reportedly told O’Leary that the first required $8 billion to solve the problem.

“That’s the kind of money that an institution or a sovereign wealth fund can put to work if they thought there was an interesting opportunity,” O’Leary said. “In financial services, liquidity events like this can be interesting investment opportunities if you think it’s a legitimate investment and it’s not an issue with the regulator.”

However, Gensler commented at that time that the crypto industry was “significantly non-compliant” and required further regulation. O’Leary then commented: “The minute that occurred, that was the end of any sovereign wealth fund’s interest. There was no way to get that $8 billion onto the balance sheet of FTX with the regulators hovering overhead.”

O’Leary believes that in order for FTX to remain solvent, the exchange would need between $3.5 to $4 billion. Breitbart News recently reported that a source claims the quant trading firm Sam Bankman-Fried founded, Alameda Research, used customer deposits from FTX in a way that went unnoticed by investors, employees, and auditors. The source claims that Alameda Research used billions of dollars from FTX users without their knowledge.

According to the source, FTX grossly miscalculated how much of its tokens it needed on hand if users wanted to cash out. When trading platforms are regulated, they are required to hold enough money to match what customers deposit. According to the source, FTX did not have nearly enough money on hand.

Read more at Coindesk here.

Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan