NEW YORK (Reuters) – Ozy Media founder Carlos Watson was sentenced on Monday to almost 10 years in jail, after a jury discovered him responsible in July of mendacity to buyers in regards to the now-defunct startup’s funds and sham offers with Google (NASDAQ:) and Oprah Winfrey.
U.S. District Choose Eric Komitee handed down the 116-month sentence at a listening to in Brooklyn federal court docket.
Federal prosecutors stated Watson and his California-based information and leisure firm falsified details about Ozy’s funds and viewers measurement, fabricated contracts and inflated earnings projections to court docket buyers.
“Watson chose deceit over candor, grasping for the illusion of business success and personal acclaim at any cost,” Breon Peace, the U.S. Legal professional in Brooklyn, stated in a press release.
Watson, a former cable information anchor and funding banker, had pleaded not responsible. His lawyer had advised jurors on the trial that he was betrayed by deputies who acted on their very own and stored him at nighttime about their wrongdoing.
Prosecutors had sought a 17-year jail time period for Watson, arguing he “directed a years-long brazen and audacious scheme to defraud investors and lenders” and had not accepted accountability.
Watson’s protection attorneys had urged Komitee to spare him jail time past the obligatory two-year time period for identification theft, arguing he was harmless and that the case mustn’t have been introduced.
Watson’s lawyer Andrew Frisch stated throughout Monday’s listening to that Watson’s real dedication to Ozy’s mission set him other than typical fraud defendants motivated by greed.
“What distinguishes Mr. Watson is his motivation and his vision,” Frisch stated.
Based in 2013, Ozy imploded in 2021 after information stories questioned its viewers numbers and revealed {that a} prime govt had impersonated a YouTube govt throughout a name with Goldman Sachs bankers during which he claimed the streaming website agreed to pay for unique rights to an Ozy present.
