Kevin O’Leary is speaking out for the first time since Canadian officials announced that his wife, Linda O’Leary, would not be facing jail time in connection to her involvement in a fatal summer boat crash. Speaking with Fox Business‘ Maria Bartiromo on Wednesday, weeks after the maximum sentence was reduced, the Shark Tank star called the scenario “horrific.”
“It’s a horrific accident and it’s exactly that – nobody wanted this to happen,” O’Leary said.
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While O’Leary had briefly broken his silence when speaking to TMZ earlier this week, saying little more than his wife is doing “good,” he explained to Fox Business that he is choosing not to discuss the matter publicly because he wants the process to “play out as it should.” He added that his silence is also his desire to respect the privacy of the others involved.
“It’s a horrible accident – just that – there’s nobody to blame…it’s sad that it occurred,” he said. “My heart goes out to those families, and that’s what I tell everybody.”
O’Leary and his wife’s run-in with the law began after a boat on Lake Joseph in the Muskokas on the night of Aug. 24. While neither O’Leary nor his wife sustained injuries, two passengers on the second and larger vessel – Gary Poltash, 64, from Florida and Susanne Brito, a 48-year-old mother-of-three from Uxbridge, Ontario – died.
Although fault of the accident was initially unclear, the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) charged the driver of the larger vessel failure to exhibit a navigation light and Linda with careless operation of a vessel, claiming that her speed of 17 miles per hour was unsafe. At the time, it was reported that Linda faced a maximum sentence of 18 months in prison and a fine of up to $1 million, something that her attorney disputed.
“She has always been a cautious and experienced boater who came into collision with an unlit craft on a dark and moonless night. The other boat was sitting in a dark spot on a lake, no cottage lights nearby, no moon,” Brian Greenspan, the O’Leary’s lawyer, said at the time.
“They are absolutely wrong. That applies to ocean going vessels. The pleasure craft provision is a maximum $10,000 fine,” he added.
Melanie Houle, Public Prosecution Service of Canada spokesperson, confirmed earlier this month that the initial maximum sentence had been incorrect, stating that “after careful review of the Act, the Crown determined that the PPSC’s initial position on maximum allowable penalties was not accurate.”
Linda now faces only a fine of $10,000. She was scheduled to make her first court appearance on Thursday, Oct. 31.
