In July, former talk show host Carlos Watson and his now-defunct California-based Ozy Media were found guilty in a federal financial conspiracy case. Watson, 55, was accused of lying about the startup’s finances and fraudulent deals with Oprah Winfrey and Google.
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On Monday (Dec. 16), Watson was sentenced to nearly 10 years in prison. He still denies the allegations and plans to appeal. In court, Watson said he “loved what we built with Ozy,” per Associated Press.
He also told the judge he was a victim of “selective prosecution” as a Black entrepreneur in Silicon Valley and referred to the case “a modern lynching.”
Federal prosecutors believed that Watson and his entertainment company falsified documents about Ozy’s audience size, forged contracts and boosted projected earnings to court investors.
According to Reuters, Breon Peace — the U.S. Attorney in Brooklyn — said that Watson was relentless with his falsehoods.
“Watson chose deceit over candor, grasping for the illusion of business success and personal acclaim at any cost,” Peace remarked.
Watson, who has had on-air stints with CNN and MSNBC and is a former investment banker, originally pleaded not guilty as he was allegedly not aware of any illegal activity.
Prosecutors were seeking a 17-year prison term for Watson, insisting that he “directed a years-long brazen and audacious scheme to defraud investors and lenders” and had not taken any accountability.
Ozy was founded in 2013, but experienced controversy in 2021 after news reports began to question the company’s audience numbers.
There were also reports that a top executive at Ozy had pretended to be a YouTube executive during a call with Goldman Sachs bankers in which he said the large streamer agreed to pay for exclusive rights to one of the company’s shows.
Watson is currently free on $3 million bond. He is set to surrender to prison on March 28. Any restitution will be determined after a February hearing.
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