Carlos Watson – Ozy Media
His fraud was exposed after a phony phone call with Goldman Sachs. Trump let him off the hook.
Carlos Watson founded Ozy Media in 2013 and took the ol’ “fake-it-‘til-you-make-it” route to a felonious extreme.
Watson worked on Wall Street, and even hosted his own show on CNBC. But he is now more famous for participating in a phony phone call with Ozy co-founder Samir Rao in a desperate bid to attract a $45 million investment from Goldman Sachs.
Roa was pretending to be Alex Piper, head of unscripted programming for YouTube Originals. He asserted that YouTube was paying big bucks for an Ozy show and promised that massive advertising dollars were soon to follow.
Rao, who pled guilty to fraud and identity-theft charges, testified that Watson was in on the call.
A jury found Watson guilty on fraud and identity-theft charges in July 2024. He was sentenced to 116 months in prison in December 2024. And in March 2025, just as he was about to start serving that time, President Donald Trump commuted his sentence.
Watson co-founded Ozy Media in 2013 and it collapsed in 2021 following the New York Times’ thorough reporting on the fake call. The company targeted a young, diverse audience with digital newsletters, television shows, podcasts and live events, including a gathering called “Ozy Fest.”
Ozy Media attracted tens of millions in investment dollars from Steve Job’s widow, Laurene Powell Jobs, Silicon Valley venture capitalist Ron Conway, and Google’s former Chief Legal Officer David Drummond.
Berlin publishing giant Axel Springer, investment bank Lion Tree, and iHeart Radio also invested. The Ford Foundation backed it with grants. All told, Ozy Media reportedly raised more than $83 million by April 2020 and valued itself at $159 million.
Watson, a charismatic Miami native, graduated from Harvard University and Stanford Law School. In 2003, he hosted CNBC’s “The Edge with Carlos Watson,” and he later became one of CNN’s main political analysts. He was also an anchor at MSNBC. And he worked at McKinsey & Co. and Goldman Sachs, where he teamed up with Roa.
Watson’s first move was to blame Rao, weaving a tale about his trusty business partner having a mental health crisis.
“Samir is a valued colleague and a close friend,” Watson said in an apology he emailed to Goldman Sachs and the New York Times. “I’m proud that we stood by him while he struggled, and we’re all glad to see him now thriving again.”
As lame as it sounded, Watson continued this story in his defense. “This case was about a crooked co-founder named Samir Rao who lied to, who undermined and who betrayed Carlos Watson,” Watson’s lawyer told the jury.
It didn’t wash. Evidence showed Watson was in the room with Rao, texting instructions about what to say and what not to say as Rao impersonated Piper.
“The jury found that Watson was a con man who told lie upon lie upon lie to deceive investors,” said U.S. Attorney Breon Peace. “Ozy Media ultimately collapsed under the weight of Watson’s dishonest schemes.”
The phone call was just one of many frauds. Ozy Media and three of its top executives lied about revenue, cash-on-hand, profits, celebrity ties, acquisition prospects and contract negotiations. They forged documents and touted deals with Google and Oprah Winfrey that were never even possibilities.
They grew increasingly desperate as they blew through other people’s money and couldn’t show the progress needed to raise more.
“We told so many lies to so many different people,” Rao testified “It morphed into survival at all costs and by any means necessary.”
Ozy’s chief of staff Suzee Han, who also pleaded guilty to fraud charges, served as a witness against Watson as well. “I lied about Ozy’s past performance and historical financials,” she told the court. “We, and I mean Carlos, lied about how the company was doing.”
Former Chief Financial Officer Tripti Thakur resigned immediately after Watson ordered her to send a forged contract to a bank to secure a loan. “To be crystal clear,” she told Watson, “what you see as a measured risk — I see as a felony.”