[Vanilla Vice still White] Black CEO Gets NGHR Treatment for Alleged White Collar Crimes – White Liberal Prosecutors Publicly Arrest Carlos Watson by Surprise in NYC

From [HERE] Ozy Media and Chief Executive Carlos Watson were indicted on charges of repeatedly lying to investors and lenders about core aspects of the company’s business, a crippling blow to a once-promising startup that had early backing from big-brand advertisers and venture capitalists.

Mr. Watson, a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. banker and MSNBC anchor who hosts some of Ozy’s television shows and podcasts, was arrested Thursday morning in a Manhattan hotel. He is accused of falsifying information about Ozy’s financial performance and audience size, altering and fabricating contracts for some of its television shows and inflating its projected earnings, in an effort to secure tens of millions of dollars in investments and loans to offset the fledgling company’s mounting debt, according to an indictment unsealed Thursday. 

The U.S. attorney’s office in Brooklyn, N.Y., charged the company and Mr. Watson with conspiring to commit securities fraud and wire fraud.  

Mr. Watson’s arrest came after Samir Rao, a former executive with whom he founded Ozy, pleaded guilty to fraud and identity-theft charges in a secretive federal court proceeding earlier this week. The Securities and Exchange Commission also filed a civil lawsuit against Messrs. Watson and Rao and Ozy, alleging they lied to investors. 

Ozy came under federal scrutiny for its business practices after the New York Times reported in 2021 that Mr. Rao, its then-chief operating officer, impersonated an executive of Alphabet Inc.’s YouTube during a fundraising call with Goldman Sachs. The call had been arranged after Messrs. Rao and Watson falsely claimed to Goldman that YouTube had paid Ozy $5.75 million to license the “Carlos Watson Show,” according to the indictment.

Mr. Watson acknowledged the impersonation incident in a statement at the time of the article but said Mr. Rao’s behavior on the call was the result of a mental-health issue.

Prosecutors allege that Mr. Watson was aware of Mr. Rao’s impersonation and instructed him over a series of text messages about what to say during the call. In one text, Mr. Watson coached Mr. Rao to say, “I am a big fan of Carlos, Samir and the show.” [MORE]