Trump Commutes Sentence of Ozy Media’s Carlos Watson Just Before Prison Deadline
Carlos Watson, the co-founder of Ozy Media, just got a last-minute break from former President Donald Trump. Watson was set to begin a nearly 10-year prison sentence for fraud, but Trump commuted his sentence on Friday, a White House official confirmed.
Watson, who was convicted last year in a high-profile case, had been accused of misleading investors and lenders by inflating revenue figures and making false claims about business deals. His case was one of several clemency decisions Trump announced, including a pardon for Trevor Milton, the founder of electric vehicle startup Nikola, and the executives behind cryptocurrency exchange BITMEX.
Ozy Media, founded in 2012, aimed to bring fresh, diverse perspectives to news and culture but collapsed in 2021 following fraud allegations. Prosecutors claimed Watson and his team lied to keep the company afloat, with one executive even impersonating a YouTube official to woo investors. Watson, however, called the case against him a “modern lynching” and insisted he was unfairly targeted.
Despite his impressive background degrees from Harvard and Stanford, a Wall Street career, and gigs at CNN and MSNBC Watson now finds himself at the center of a major scandal. But thanks to Trump, he won’t be serving time behind bars.
Carlos Watson Walks Free: Trump Commutes Ozy Media Co-Founder’s Sentence
