Former talk show host Carlos Watson was sentenced to nearly 10 years in prison in a federal court on Monday financial conspiracy case Which introduced his once-hyped OG Media as the pinnacle of fake-it-til-you-make-it startup culture.
So extreme that another Ozzy executive impersonated a YouTube executive to promote Ozzy to investment bankers — while Watson trained him, prosecutors said.
Watson, 55, and the now-defunct company found guilty Charges including conspiracy to commit wire fraud were filed last summer. He has denied the allegations.
Watson, who is free on $3 million bond, faced a mandatory minimum of two years in prison and a possible maximum of 37 years.
Prosecutors accuse former cable news commentator and host of playing a major role Ozzie’s scheme to defraud investors And the lenders inflated revenue numbers, promoted deals and offers that did not exist or were not finalized, and showed other false signs of Ozzy’s success.
Prosecutors said Watson also listened in and texted talking points, while his co-founder posed as a YouTube executive to praise Ozzy on phone calls with potential investors.
“The amount of dishonesty in this case is extraordinary,” said U.S. District Judge Eric Comiti, later telling Watson: “Your internal mechanism for separating truth from fiction has gone horribly wrong.”
Watson blamed others for any misrepresentations, and said he was the target of “selective prosecution” as a black entrepreneur in Silicon Valley, where the number of African American executives is very low.
“I love what we created with Ozzy,” he said in court Monday, initially addressing supporters in the audience, before the judge suggested he turn around. He portrayed himself as a founder who put everything he had into his company, saying that he took an average salary of about $51,000 from Ozzy in the company’s final years, mortgaged his house three times over and Drives a year old car.
Co-founder, Sameer Rao, and Ozzie’s former chief of staff, Suzie Han, have pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing. Both testified against Watson.
Founded in 2012, Ozzy was styled as a hub of news and culture for millennials with a global perspective.
Watson boasted an impressive resume: degrees from Harvard University and Stanford Law School, a stint on Wall Street, on-air gigs at CNN and MSNBC, and entrepreneurial prospects. Ozzy Media was his second startup, launched a decade after selling a test-prep company he founded when he was 20.
Mountain View, California-based Ozzy produces TV shows, newsletters, podcasts and a music and ideas festival. Watson hosted several TV programs, including the Emmy-winning “Black Women Own the Conversation”, which appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Network.
Ozzy snatched up major advertisers, clients and grants. But according to testimony from insiders, behind the outward signs of success was an overextended company that struggled to survive after 2017 – and fell apart.
Former finance vice president Janine Poutre told jurors the company pressured people to make payroll, delayed paying rent and took expensive cash advances to pay bills. Meanwhile, Ozzy pitched potential investors to much larger revenue figures than what he reported to accountants, according to testimony and documents.
on the witness stand In July, Watson said the company’s cash crunch was just a startup norm and that its investors knew they were getting unaudited numbers that could change.
OG Disbanded in 2021After a New York Times column exposed the phone-call impersonation trick and raised questions about the true size of the startup’s audience.
