Giacomo Bagnara What’s Up? (Feb. 19-25) A Precipitous Fall Carlos Watson, the founder of Ozy Media, a digital media start-up that attracted funding from high-profile investors, was arrested by the F.B.I. on Thursday and charged with fraud and aggravated identity theft more than a year after the company announced it was shutting down . In court filings, prosecutors said Mr. Watson had been “engaged in a scheme to defraud Ozy’s potential investors, potential acquirers, lenders and potential lenders” by misrepresenting its audience numbers and financial results. In September 2021, The New York Times wrote about an instance in which a top official at Ozy appeared to have posed as a YouTube executive on a call with Goldman Sachs bankers, assuring them that Ozy’s videos performed well on the platform, when Ozy was trying to raise $40 million. Mr. Watson later identified Samir Rao, the company’s former chief operating officer, as the impersonator. Mr. Rao and Suzee Han, Ozy’s former chief of staff, previously pleaded guilty to related charges. Change at the World Bank The Biden administration tapped Ajay Banga, a former head of Mastercard, to be the next president of the World Bank , a pick aimed at reshaping […]
The Week in Business: Fraud Charges for a Media Founder
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