Kevin O'Leary wins defamation case; crypto influencer Ben Armstrong ordered to pay $2.8 million in damages.

PANews reported on February 16 that, according to The Block, a Florida federal judge ruled in favor of Kevin O'Leary in a defamation case against former cryptocurrency influencer Ben Armstrong (known online as "BitBoy"), ordering Armstrong to pay $2.8 million in damages.

In late March 2025, Ben Armstrong posted a series of messages on the X platform. In these messages, Armstrong accused O'Leary, known as "Mr. Wonderful" on the show "Shark Tank," and his wife of murder and claimed they paid millions of dollars to cover up a boat accident in 2019. In that accident, O'Leary's boat collided with another boat on a lake in Ontario, killing two people. O'Leary was a passenger and was never charged. His wife was charged with negligent navigation but was acquitted after a 13-day trial.

Ben Armstrong's post included publicly revealing O'Leary's private phone number and urging fans to "call the real-life murderer." This post resulted in Ben Armstrong's account being suspended for 12 hours.