The whole FTX debacle put Sam Bankman-Fried, the platform’s former CEO in a negative light. With the entire ecosystem frowning upon him, SBF still decided to appear in an interview. In the interview, SBF is seen trying to defend himself by suggesting that he “didn’t try to commit fraud.” While most of them continued to call out the FTX founder, a few of them were seen extending support.
As mentioned earlier, SBF apologized and revealed that he had only $100K left in his bank account with only one credit card in function. American billionaire Bill Ackman took to Twitter and suggested that FTX’s former CEO could be telling the truth.
Ackman wasn’t the only one who still entailed hope on SBF. Shark Tank’s host Kevin O’Leary backed Ackman as he tweeted,
“I lost millions as an investor in @FTX and got sandblasted as a paid spokesperson for the firm but after listening to that interview I’m in the @billAckman camp about the kid!”
This did not sit well with the community. Both O’Leary, as well as Ackman, were called out for their tweets. The community pointed out how individuals should review their positions if they had funded with Ackman. One Twitter user said,
“Man doesn’t make the difference betwen fraud, an exchange, fractional reserves, and a hedgefund.”
Another individual who was visibly enraged by this was Dogecoin’s Billy Markus. Markus tweeted,
Cardano founder also reacts to O’Leary’s tweet backing SBF
Similar to Dogecoin’s Markus, Cardano’s Charles Hoskinson suggested that the latest ordeal with SBF was right out of a Quantum Leap episode.
This wasn’t the first time that the Shark Tank host was seen supporting SBF. Right after the infamous collapse of FTX, O’Leary revealed that he would pour money into SBF’s future ventures. Elaborating on the possibility of the same he added,
“If I could put him on my team in a very straight vertical where he doesn’t have the ability to move assets around but has the ability to trade them, yeah I would.”
While the community pointed out how “Sam committed one of the largest frauds in history,” O’Leary continued to feel pity for SBF.