In a tweet thread responding to comments made by Kevin O'Leary, the Shark Tank judge who was paid $15 million to act as a spokesman for FTX, Zhao made several claims about the relationship between Binance and FTX, revisiting events from long before the latter's recent collapse.

It seems $15m not only changed @kevinolearytv’s mind about crypto, it also made him align with a fraudster. Is he seriously defending SBF?https://t.co/JoKapOcMXr (baseless attacks start around 4:20).

A thread. 1/11

— CZ 🔶 Binance (@cz_binance) December 9, 2022

Last month, FTX agreed to sell itself to rival Binance but that quickly fell through when due diligence showed up a massive financial black hole. Soon after, FTX filed for bankruptcy and Bankman-Fried quit as CEO.

In his tweets, Zhao says that, unlike O'Leary, Binance did due diligence on FTX and decided to exit its investment in its rival a year and a half ago after becoming uncomfortable with the crypto exchange's ties to Bankman-Fried's trading firm Alameda Research.

At the time, claims Zhao: "Sam was so unhinged when we decided to pull out as an investor that he launched a series of offensive tirades at multiple Binance team members, including threatening to go to “extraordinary lengths to make us pay” - we still have those text messages."

Bankman-Fried has replied with his own claims about the event: "You won, @cz_binance. There's no need to lie, now, about the buyout. We initiated conversations around buying you out, and we decided to do it because it was important for our business. And while I was frustrated with your 'negotiation' tactics, I chose to still do it."

You won, @cz_binance.

There's no need to lie, now, about the buyout.

We initiated conversations around buying you out, and we decided to do it because it was important for our business.

And while I was frustrated with your 'negotiation' tactics, I chose to still do it.

— SBF (@SBF_FTX) December 9, 2022

Elsewhere in his tweet thread, Zhao takes aim at FTX's huge spending, claiming: "You don't have to be a genius to know something don't smell right at FTX. They were 1/10th our size, yet outspent us 100/1 on marketing & "partnerships", fancy parties in the Bahamas, trips across the globe, and mansions for all of their senior staff (and his parents)."

He also says that his ethnicity has been a focus of attacks on him, noting that he is Canadian and that Binance is not a Chinese company.

Bankman-Fried, meanwhile, has also used Twitter to confirm that he will testify before the House Financial Services Committee on Tuesday at a hearing about the FTX's collapse.

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