President Trump on Friday sentenced Carlos Watson, co-founder of now-repeated digital media company Ozy Media.
Watson was sentenced to almost 10 years in December for trying to fraudulent investors and lenders by lying about the company's finances. He was sentenced last summer after the federal ju judge convicted Watson and Ozzy Media of conspiracy to commit securities and wire fraud. Also, after a two-month trial detailing successful calls, manufacturing contracts and misleading claims for Ozy's revenues from 2018 to 2021, the ju judge was convicted by Mr Watson of identity theft.
The federal judge had also ordered Watson and Ozzy to pay $96 million in reparations and forfeiture. People said Watson and Ozzy no longer needed to pay these financial penalties.
Mr Watson pleaded not guilty and continued to assert his innocence until he was sentenced to 116 months in prison. His commute was previously reported by CNBC.
Watson did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Watson started Ozy in 2013 and published news articles and newsletters before attempting podcasts and television production. When digital publishers like BuzzFeed and Vice raised billions of dollars into investments that were barely present, startups secured commitments from prominent investors.
Through legal proceedings, Watson denied the allegations of fraud. In court, his lawyers argued that his representation to investors was based on a good assessment of Ozy's finances, and they shifted liability for fraud to other former Ozy employees. When he took the stand at the trial, Watson said he did not intentionally inflate revenue estimates, but rather offered the type of service-based income typical of that early “sloppy young company.”
Watson reiterated his stance that the government selectively indicted him because he was black.
Ozy's other founder, Samir Rao, and former Ozy Chief of Staff Suzee Han, pleaded guilty to fraud charges in 2023, testified against Watson.
At the heart of the case was a 2021 fundraising call that, as the New York Times first reported, Rao misinterpreted Goldman Sachs employees by impersonating a YouTube executive. Prosecutors allegedly said Watson helped set up the call, citing a text message he sent to Rao, claiming that what they allegedly amounted to a script about what they would say. Watson denied any liability.
Witnesses also testified that Watson misrepresented Ozzy's finances to secure investments, inflated revenue figures, and presented misleading claims of commitments from Oprah Winfrey and LiveNation Entertainment.
Trump this week forgives three founders of cryptocurrency exchange Bitmex, who pleaded guilty to violating the bank's secret law in 2022.
