NEW YORK (AP) — Former TV personality Carlos Watson was sentenced Tuesday a federal financial conspiracy case about Ozy Media, an ambitious startup that went bankrupt after another executive posed as a YouTube executive to hype the company’s success.
Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn announced on X that a jury had found Watson guilty of all three charges against him: conspiracy to commit securities fraud, conspiracy to commit bank fraud and aggravated identity theft.
Prosecutors alleged Watson conspired to deceive investors and lenders to keep the cash-strapped company alive.
Watson pleaded not guilty and denied the charges. Watson testified that Ozy’s cash crunches were standard speed bumps in the startup and that materials provided to investors showed the information was unverified and subject to change — “like ‘buyer beware,'” he said.
The defense blamed Samir Rao, co-founder and chief operating officer of Ozy, who has pleaded guilty.
Watson, a television host who had worked on Wall Street and sold his own education-related startup, created Ozy in 2012.
The company produced shows and awarded “Ozy Genius” awards to students.
It interviewed President Bill Clinton, won an Emmy Award and produced an annual music-and-ideas festival that President Joe Biden hosted 2017 attendedwhen he was a former vice president.