Judge Orders BitBoy to Pay O'Leary $2.83M in Defamation Suit

A federal judge in Miami has ordered cryptocurrency influencer Ben Armstrong, known online as BitBoy, to pay nearly $2.83 million to businessman and television personality Kevin O'Leary in a defamation lawsuit stemming from false social media accusations related to a fatal 2019 boating accident.

The ruling, issued by U.S. District Judge Beth Bloom in the Southern District of Florida, came as a default judgment after Armstrong failed to respond to the complaint or appear in court. O'Leary, a prominent investor on the ABC show Shark Tank, filed the suit in 2025, alleging that Armstrong's posts in March of that year maliciously portrayed him as a murderer who covered up his involvement in the accident. The posts, which garnered about 156,000 views on the platform X, formerly Twitter, included O'Leary's personal phone number and encouraged followers to contact him, labeling him a "real life murderer." Armstrong was temporarily suspended from X for 12 hours following the disclosure.

The incident in question occurred on August 24, 2019, in Ontario, Canada, when a boat operated by O'Leary's wife, Linda, collided with another vessel, resulting in the deaths of two people on the other...