Richard Sharp, former chairman of the BBC and crypto investor, has recently resigned from the media corporation following an inquiry related to potential conflicts of interest arising from facilitating an £800,000 personal loan for Boris Johnson while being in the position of BBC chairman. This unexpected resignation started a large inquiry led by the former Prime Minister’s independent advisers.

One of the breaches that lead to Sharp’s termination was revealed to be involving his cryptocurrency links to a Russian oligarch, Vladamir Potanin, who owns Atomyze, a blockchain company which trades metals for crypto tokens. In 2019, Sharp was an investor of Atomyze’s business with a Cayman Islands-listed company, ABCP GP Ltd. It is also known that Sharp’s personal investment office had a COO and CFO, Rob Osborne, still sitting on the crypto firm’s board of directors.

The inquiry began after Sharp disclosed his role in helping Johnson secure the loan from his distant cousin, Sam Blyth, in a series of dinners back in 2020. Boris Johnson later giving Sharp his endorsements for the job instead of candidates with more experience and background in media, sparked more inquiry and interest.

The independent inquiry found out that Sharp had failed to disclose potential perceived conflicts of interest to the panel which interviewed candidates and advised the Prime Minister on who to appoint. The inquiry concludes that these disclosure failures gave rise to the potential that Mr. Sharpe might not have been independent of the former Prime Minister in case he would have been appointed.

Richard Sharp is to remain chairman until June of 2021 when a successor is appointed and the investigation will result in more transparency when it comes to selecting boards of appointees and evaluating potential conflicts of interest. Lessons learned from the appointment of Richard Sharp will help in the future to ensure decisions are made and roles are filled in a trustworthy and independent manner.



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