NEW YORK — The creator of the bothered digital start-up Ozy Media pleaded not guilty Thursday to federal scams charges implicating him of computing to prop up his economically havingahardtime business, which hemorrhaged millions of dollars priorto it shut down amidst discoveries of perhaps misleading organization practices.
Federal representatives detained Carlos Watson at a Manhattan hotel earlier in the day after 2 of the business’s top executives pleaded guilty this month to scams charges, consistingof Ozy’s then-chief operating officer, Samir Rao, who districtattorneys state impersonated a YouTube executive throughout a pitch to Goldman Sachs, a possible financier.
The indictment unsealed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn implicates Watson and Ozy Media of conspiring to devote securities scams and wire scams. Watson was likewise charged with identity theft for his function in the impersonation of anumberof media executives.
In a parallel civil case, the Securities and Exchange Commission likewise charged Watson and the business with defrauding financiers of about $50 million “through duplicated misstatements worrying the business’s fundamental monetary condition, organization relationships, and fundraising efforts.”
Ozy promoted itself as a progressive digital platform for “the New and the Next,” stating on its site that it lookedfor to produce a “space for fresh pointofviews, presents you to increasing stars and development patterns, and provides brand-new takes on whatever from news and culture to innovation, company, knowing and homeentertainment.”
Watson, a previous host on MSNBC and CNN, cofounded the business with Rao in California’s Silicon Valley a years earlier.
But the business imploded under overwhelming financialobligation and concerns over its fundraising methods. As its costs installed, it relied on high-interest loans and started to more strongly court financiers.
Scrutiny deepened after the New York Times reported in October 2021 that an Ozy authorities had masqueraded as a YouTube executive in a stoppingworking effort to get Goldman Sachs to instill cash into the havingahardtime business.
Shortly after