Binance CEO and co-founder Changpeng Zhao called Canadian investor and businessman Kevin O’Leary a “liar” on CNBC’s pre-market news program Squawk Box.
“How concerned are you about the money given to you? @SBF_FTX be taken back? Are you prepared to return it if your creditors demand it?” @Andrew Sorkin ask @cz_binance: pic.twitter.com/nffAzVinHe
— Squawk Box (@SquawkCNBC) December 15, 2022
While testifying before a Senate hearing on Dec. 14 regarding the FTX scandal, O’Leary accused Binance of putting FTX out of business and becoming a global monopoly. O’Leary said that when Sam Bankman-Fried bought his FTX shares from Binance, he transferred some of the FTX funds to Binance.
In response to O’Leary’s accusations, Binance’s CEO said he was surprised that O’Leary made such a statement.
“Kevin O’Leary makes a lot of nonsense claims. They don’t make sense, they make no logic.”
Kevin O’Leary’s FTX funds appear to be all gone, but Zhao said he is not worried about his or other FTX users’ funds. Furthermore, the Binance CEO does not believe that O’Leary invested in his FTX without knowing that Binance is also a shareholder.
CZ dismisses concerns over $2.1 billion worth of funding from FTX
In an interview, Mr. Zhao Asked If Binance were prepared to return the $2.1 billion payment it received from FTX to its bankruptcy trustee when it closed its 2019 Series A investment.
According to U.S. bankruptcy law, beneficiaries within a two-year lookback window are eligible if bankruptcy proceedings prove that a payment was fraudulent, or if the individual If it turns out that you should have, it may be returned by the trustee.
Zhao said Binance was “financially fine” but would leave it to a “perfectly competent” lawyer.
Binance CEO has revealed that the repayments will be a combination of BUSD, BNB and FTT. He added that while his FTT portion of the payback is important, Binance “forgot” it.
