Due to his suspected involvement in a scam involving the defunct content company, the former head of Ozy Media was given a 10-year prison sentence.
Carlos Watson was convicted in July on securities and wire fraud counts, carrying a maximum sentence of 37 years in jail. Prosecutors had demanded a forfeiture to the government of millions of dollars and a 17-year sentence.
According to The Associated Press, U.S. District Judge Eric Komitee stated in imposing the sentence that the level of dishonesty in this instance is extraordinary. Later on, he said to Watson: Your internal system for discerning fact from fiction became seriously misaligned.
Watson has maintained his innocence since entering a not guilty plea to the accusations.
Ozy’s ascent and decline closely mirrored the 2010s digital media bubble. The organization tried to capitalize on the influx of money brought about by companies like Vice and BuzzFeed, which were drawing billions of dollars in venture capital.
Both of those companies have had to deal with financial issues: Vice filed for bankruptcy, and BuzzFeed barely avoided being taken off the stock exchange’s list.
A former lieutenant described the challenges Ozy had to stay afloat and the limits it violated in order to do so during the Watson trial.
Former Ozy Chief Operating Officer Samir Rao told jurors that Watson had approved all of his lies, claiming that survival within the parameters of decency, justice, and truth had evolved into survival at all costs and by any means necessary. Rao entered a guilty plea.
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