Ben Armstrong Ordered to Pay Kevin O'Leary $2.8M in Defamation Case
Ben Armstrong faces a default judgment in federal court in Miami after failing to answer Kevin O'Leary's defamation lawsuit, resulting in nearly $3 million in damages.
Television personality and entrepreneur Kevin O'Leary has secured a significant victory in a defamation case against cryptocurrency influencer Ben Armstrong, widely recognized by his online moniker "Bitboy."
Federal judge Beth Bloom in Miami issued a ruling on Friday compelling Armstrong to compensate O'Leary with approximately $2.83 million in damages stemming from a collection of social media publications in which the Shark Tank celebrity was labeled a murderer.
The case centers on a 2019 boating collision involving O'Leary and his spouse, Linda, which tragically claimed two lives when their vessel collided with another watercraft. In March 2025, Armstrong published numerous posts on X alleging that O'Leary committed murder and asserting that he had spent millions of dollars to conceal the facts surrounding the incident.
According to Judge Bloom's ruling, O'Leary was not controlling the vessel when the accident occurred and faced no criminal charges whatsoever, and although Linda O'Leary did face charges for operating a vehicle carelessly, she was cleared of all wrongdoing following a 13-day court proceeding that determined the opposing boat had been running without proper lighting.
Armstrong posted O'Leary's phone number in X outburst
According to Judge Bloom's findings, Armstrong had "escalated his harassment campaign" through the publication of O'Leary's personal telephone number alongside an appeal to "urge his followers to 'call a real life murderer,'" an action that resulted in his account being suspended from X for a period of 12 hours.
O'Leary testified that his mobile device was "lighting up" following Armstrong's post, and the public disclosure of his personal contact information "significantly affected him, both in his professional and personal life," the court order stated.
The default judgment entered by Judge Bloom came about because Armstrong did not submit a response to the legal complaint nor make an appearance before the court and now must pay $750,000 for mental anguish damages, $78,000 for damages to his reputation, and an additional $2 million as punitive damages.
This ruling represents yet another legal setback for Armstrong, who has found himself mired in numerous public legal disputes throughout recent years following his removal from the Bitboy Crypto brand in 2023, which had previously been among the most popular cryptocurrency-focused YouTube channels on the platform.
Armstrong was taken into custody in March while in Florida due to electronic correspondence he had transmitted to Georgia Superior Court Judge Kimberly Childs during a period when he was representing himself in legal proceedings. Additional charges led to another arrest in July within Georgia for allegedly making telephone calls of a harassing nature.
Armstrong's legal troubles extend back to 2023, when he was previously arrested while broadcasting live video outside the residence of a former business partner whom he had accused of unlawfully possessing his Lamborghini automobile.