Kevin O’Leary has reason to celebrate after winning his defamation lawsuit against crypto influencer Ben “BitBoy” Armstrong. The Shark Tank investor was awarded $2.8 million.
Kevin O’Leary Secures $2.8 Million in Defamation Lawsuit
Armstrong had posted on X, accusing O’Leary of murder and claiming he paid millions to cover it up. O’Leary took the allegations to court and won the case, securing a multimillion-dollar judgment in his favor.
Armstrong also shared O’Leary’s personal cell phone number online and urged his followers to “call a real life murderer,” according to Judge Beth Bloom’s ruling on Friday, as reported by Bloomberg Law.
The judge issued a default judgment against Armstrong after he did not file a meaningful response to the lawsuit O’Leary brought against him.
Kevin O’Leary Says False Claims Hurt Professional Reputation
In her decision for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida in Miami, Judge Beth Bloom said the fallout from Armstrong’s posts and the release of O’Leary’s phone number took a toll over the following weeks and months. She wrote that it impacted both his work and his private life.
According to the ruling, Kevin O’Leary had to step up his security measures and deal with a surge of messages from business associates who were questioning the false allegations.
The 2019 Muskoka Boating Crash and Legal Aftermath
The allegations Armstrong made were tied to a 2019 boating crash that involved the Canadian entrepreneur and his wife, Linda. Two people lost their lives in that accident. Kevin did not face any charges related to the crash. Linda was charged with careless operation of a vehicle.
She was cleared after a four-week trial in 2021. Still, the matter did not fully end there. Civil claims and counterclaims followed, and those disputes were settled only recently.
Two Killed in Lake Joseph Boating Accident
The crash happened in 2019 on Lake Joseph in Muskoka. The O’Learys were riding in their 1991 Cobalt ski boat when it struck a 2016 Super Air Nautique G23 wakeboard boat that had 12 passengers on board.
Gary Poltash, a 64-year-old retiree from Florida, was killed instantly due to blunt force trauma. Suzana Brito, a 48-year-old mother of three from Uxbridge, died several days later from the injuries she sustained.
Judge Awards Millions in Defamation Damages To Multi-Millionaire Kevin O’Leary
The court noted that Armstrong’s statements revived memories of the boating tragedy. In her ruling, Judge Beth Bloom said the family had believed the episode was behind them, but the renewed attention brought it back into focus.
Bloom was awarded close to $78,000 for reputational harm, $750,000 for emotional distress, and $2 million in punitive damages, Bloomberg reported.
She also turned aside Armstrong’s argument that mental health challenges kept him from filing a timely response to the lawsuit.
