How Africa News
According to Reuters, Carlos Watson and his media firm have been charged with conspiracy to cheat investors out of tens of millions of dollars by misrepresenting the company’s debts, financial performance, and audience size.
The allegations against Watson and Ozy Media are allegedly predicated on his allegedly cooperating with co-conspirators to fake a contract and as an executive for a cable network company to obtain bank financing in 2019.
Watson and the co-conspirator were also accused of convincing an unidentified financial institution to invest $45 million by fabricating statistics about the company’s audience size, backing from other investors, and revenue.
“As alleged, Carlos Watson is a con man whose business strategy was based on outright deceit and fraud – he ran Ozy as a criminal organization rather than as a reputable media company,” Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Breon Peace reportedly said in a statement.
Watson secured a $1 million bond after being detained only days after his co-founder Samir Rao pleaded guilty to similar allegations in federal court in Brooklyn. Watson’s attorney voiced his displeasure with the situation in a statement to Variety.
