Former TV personality Carlos Watson has been convicted in a federal financial conspiracy case about Ozy Media, an ambitious startup that collapsed after another executive impersonated a YouTube executive to hype the company’s success.
Watson, 53, had been free on bail but was taken into custody to await sentencing after the verdict was announced on Tuesday.
Brooklyn-based United States Attorney Breon Peace said the verdict held Watson accountable for “brazen crimes” that were meant to keep cash-strapped Ozy afloat but ultimately sank it.
“The jury found that Watson was a con man who told lie upon lie upon lie to deceive investors into buying stock in his company,” Peace said in a statement, adding that the company “collapsed under the weight of Watson’s dishonest schemes”.
Peace’s office said a jury found Watson guilty of all the charges against him: conspiracy to commit securities fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. Ozy Media also was convicted of the same conspiracy offences, the only charges the company faced.
Watson and Ozy had pleaded not guilty and denied the allegations. He testified that Ozy’s cash squeezes were standard startup speed bumps and that material given to investors noted that the information was not audited and could change – “like ‘buyer beware’”, he said.
The defence blamed any misrepresentations on Ozy co-founder and chief operating officer Samir Rao, who has pleaded guilty.
Watson and Ozy plan to appeal, lawyers Ronald Sullivan, Janine Gilbert and Shannon Frison said in a statement.
Watson could face decades in prison, though sentencing guidelines for individual defendants vary. Now-defunct Ozy faces potential financial penalties.
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