Kevin O'Leary says FTX account holders should recover funds first before shareholders: 'We're big boys'

• Kevin O'Leary said FTX account holders should get their money back before shareholders do.
• The Shark Tank star told CNBC on Monday that shareholders were well aware of the risks.

FTX account holders should get their money back in bankruptcy proceedings before the shareholders do, according to former company spokesperson Kevin O'Leary.

The Shark Tank star told CNBC on Monday that venture investors like himself were aware of the risks associated with their stake in FTX, which collapsed last month with billions of dollars more in liabilities than assets.

"The shareholders, of which I'm included, I'm in both of these groups. I don't think we should get anything back," O'Leary said. "We're venture investors. We're big boys, we lost our money, we understand it. I don't want anything back until the people who had money in their accounts get theirs back."

He added that the attempt to recover funds from the now defunct cryptocurrency exchange is a "classic case of 'follow the money,'" and said "we know as venture investors we're going to get it wrong 80% of the time."

O'Leary was paid some $15 million by FTX to be a paid spokesperson for the company, and told CNBC last week that he and other investors failed to conduct proper due diligence when investing in the company.

Still, in testimony last week before Congress on FTX, he said Binance intentionally put the crypto exchange out of business.

Last month, CEO Changpeng "CZ" Zhao said he was selling Binance's holdings of FTT, setting off a liquidity crisis at FTX that led to its eventual bankruptcy filing.