Former TV host Carlos Watson is serving nearly 10 years in prison if he fails to launch Ozy Media

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NEW YORK (AP) – Former talk show host Carlos Watson was sentenced Monday to nearly 10 years in prison in a financial conspiracy case that branded his once-loud Ozy Media as a fake-’til-you-make-it extremism. tradition to initiate.

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It went so far that one Ozy executive posed as a YouTube executive to pitch Ozy to investors — while Watson coached him, prosecutors said.

Watson, 55, and the defunct company were convicted last summer of charges including conspiracy to defraud. He denied these allegations.

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Watson, who was released on a $3 million bond, faced a mandatory minimum sentence of two years in prison and a possible 37 years.

Prosecutors accused the former cable news analyst and broadcaster of playing a leading role in a scheme to deceive Ozy’s investors and lenders by inflating income figures, touting deals and offers that did not exist or were not completed, and touting other indicators of Ozy’s success.

Watson even eavesdropped on and sent talking points while his co-founder posed as a YouTube executive to praise Ozy on calls with potential investors, prosecutors said.

Watson has denied any wrongdoing. He blamed any particular distortion on others. The founder, Samir Rao, and former Ozy executive Suzee Han pleaded guilty and await sentencing. Both testified against Watson.

Ozy, founded in 2012, was created as a hub for 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 business chops. Ozy Media was his second startup, coming a decade after he sold the test-prep company he founded when he was in his 20s.

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Mountain View, California-based Ozy has produced TV shows, newsletters, podcasts, and music festivals and shows. Watson has hosted numerous TV shows, including the Emmy-winning “Black Women OWN the Conversation,” which aired on the Oprah Winfrey Network.

Ozy holds major advertisers, clients and grants. But beneath the outward signs of success was a sprawling company that struggled _ and fell apart — to stay afloat after 2017, according to insider testimony.

The company struggled to make payments, defaulted on rent and had to spend heavily on debt, former vice president of finance Janeen Poutre told jurors. During that time, Ozy provided potential investors with far greater income numbers than those reported to accountants, according to testimony and documents.

On the witness stand in July, Watson said the company’s cash squeeze was just a startup trend and its investors knew they were getting unaudited numbers that could change.

Ozy disbanded in 2021, after a New York Times column exposed the phone’s casting gap and raised questions about the actual size of the startup’s audience.

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