Binance and CZ Drag Kevin O'Leary Into the $1.76B FTX Lawsuit

Binance and its founder Changpeng Zhao have subpoenaed Kevin O'Leary in the $1.76 billion FTX lawsuit, according to @WatcherGuru on X. The move drags the Shark Tank investor and one of FTX's loudest public faces into a case that keeps widening years after the exchange blew up. A subpoena means he's being legally compelled to sit for testimony, hand over documents, or both.

The announcement was thin on specifics. It didn't say what Binance and CZ want to ask O'Leary, when he'd have to appear, or how he plans to respond. What's clear is that the two sides in a nine-figure fight want his version of events on the record.

O'Leary was among the most visible figures attached to FTX before its November 2022 collapse — fronting promotion for the exchange and publicly backing it as it courted mainstream investors. He has since said he got burned too, part of the wave of customers and investors wiped out when the platform froze and filed for bankruptcy.

Binance and CZ are on the other side of this one, defending against a $1.76 billion claim tied to FTX. CZ's post-FTX run has been rough in its own right: he stepped down as Binance CEO and pleaded guilty to U.S. anti-money-laundering failures, and FTX's failure also sparked a public feud between him and Sam Bankman-Fried.

Now the legal teams get to ask O'Leary whatever they want under oath. Subpoenas in civil cases usually mean depositions, document dumps, or testimony at trial — and in a case this big, anything he says becomes ammunition for one side or the other. The FTX saga has already produced convictions, settlements and clawbacks; this is the next chapter, and it's pulling in a TV star.