JUST IN: Ex-Ozy Media CEO Carlos Watson Convicted of Fraud and Identity Theft

AP Photo/Frank Franklin II

After a very public downfall following a 2021 exposé in The New York Times , Carlos Watson , the former CEO of the troubled Ozy Media, was found guilty on Tuesday of aggravated identity theft and conspiracy to commit securities and wire fraud.

The FBI started investigating digital startup Ozy Media after Ben Smith reported on an incident involving Ozy co-founder and COO Samir Rao . According to Smith’s story, Goldman Sachs’ asset management division scheduled a Zoom call with YouTube’s head of unscripted programming Alex Piper. When the time came for the call, Piper claimed to be running late and asked to switch to a phone call. But when the call took place, the Goldman team noticed that Piper’s voice was digitally altered. This led them to call up Piper at YouTube — and he knew nothing about the call.

Watson’s involvement included the use of his email address to provide to the Goldman employees. Watson also tried to explain away Rao’s behavior by citing a “mental health crisis.”

But that was only one incident that got Ozy in trouble. There were also claims that Ozy was inflating its traffic numbers.

Just days after the Times report, Ozy announced that it was shutting down — only to rise from the dead days after that. Watson stood at the forefront on network news to declare that reports of Ozy’s death were greatly exaggerated.

A federal investigation by the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission kicked off about a month after that triumphant return. And after Rao pleaded guilty to fraud charges related to the Goldman Sachs call, Watson was arrested on conspiracy charges to commit securities fraud.

This story has been updated.