Carlos Watson, CEO of Ozy Media, departs U.S. Federal Court docket in Brooklyn after being arrested and charged with fraud in New York Town, New York, U.S., February 23, 2023. David Dee Delgado | ReutersOzy Media and founder Carlos Watson have been convicted of fraud by means of a Brooklyn federal jury on Tuesday, in a case accusing them of mendacity to traders in regards to the now-defunct startup’s funds and sham offers with Google and Oprah Winfrey. Watson, a former cable information anchor and funding banker, and Ozy have been charged with securities fraud and twine fraud conspiracy.Federal prosecutors mentioned Watson and his California-based information and leisure corporate falsified details about Ozy’s funds and target audience dimension, fabricated contracts and inflated income projections to court docket traders.Based in 2013, Ozy imploded in 2021 after information experiences puzzled its target audience numbers and printed {that a} best government had impersonated a YouTube government all over a decision with Goldman Sachs bankers by which he claimed the streaming website online agreed to pay for unique rights to an Ozy display.Watson had pleaded no longer to blame. His legal professional instructed jurors that he was once betrayed by means of deputies who acted on their very own and saved him at the hours of darkness about their wrongdoing. The decision follows a six-week trial that featured testimony by means of two former Watson deputies, who pleaded to blame to fraud. They instructed jurors they conspired with Watson to cover Ozy’s crippling debt, meager money reserves and gradual expansion.Ozy folded in a while after the New York Instances reported on former leader running officer Samir Rao’s impersonation of the YouTube government. Watson denied involvement within the incident, despite the fact that prosecutors mentioned contemporaneous chat logs display he coached Rao on what to mention. The YouTube government Alex Piper and Google CEO Sundar Pichai testified for the federal government, pronouncing they by no means had offers with Ozy or thought to be purchasing it at any value, opposite to Watson’s claims to traders.Prosecutors mentioned Watson additionally confident traders that Ozy was once thriving at the same time as its money reserves sank to $19,000 in 2018, because it struggled to pay hire, wages and different elementary bills.Ozy Media CEO Carlos Watson sits all over a listening to after he and the corporate have been criminally charged for scheming to defraud traders of tens of thousands and thousands greenbacks by means of misrepresenting the corporate’s money owed, monetary efficiency and target audience dimension, at a Brooklyn courthouse in New York, U.S., February 23, 2023 on this court comic strip. Jane Rosenberg | ReutersWatson testified for a number of days in his personal protection. He mentioned prosecutors’ view of Ozy’s funds was once simplistic and failed to comprehend the nuances of media trade dealmaking. He additionally blamed unfavourable press protection for Ozy’s dying.Throughout cross-examination, Watson was once from time to time evasive in regards to the inconsistent earnings figures Ozy supplied to traders.He additionally declined a prosecutor’s request to damage down Ozy’s annual earnings in money moderately than long term doable income.”That is not the best way I have thought of it earlier than and that is the reason no longer the best way our traders thought of it,” he mentioned.
