{"id":984,"date":"2025-03-29T00:52:50","date_gmt":"2025-03-29T00:52:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2025\/03\/29\/trump-commutes-the-sentence-of-ozy-media-co-founder-carlos-watson-the-associated-press\/"},"modified":"2025-03-29T00:52:50","modified_gmt":"2025-03-29T00:52:50","slug":"trump-commutes-the-sentence-of-ozy-media-co-founder-carlos-watson-the-associated-press","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2025\/03\/29\/trump-commutes-the-sentence-of-ozy-media-co-founder-carlos-watson-the-associated-press\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump commutes the sentence of Ozy Media co-founder Carlos Watson &#8211; The Associated Press"},"content":{"rendered":"<div xmlns:xlink=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/1999\/xlink\">\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/author\/chris-megerian\"><picture data-crop=\"60x60\"><source type=\"image\/webp\" width=\"60\" height=\"60\" ><source width=\"60\" height=\"60\" ><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Staff headshot of Chris Megerian at the Associated Press bureau in Washington, Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2022. (AP Photo\/Andrew Harnik)\"  width=\"60\" height=\"60\" src=\"https:\/\/dims.apnews.com\/dims4\/default\/4717c73\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/1000x1000+0+0\/resize\/60x60!\/quality\/90\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.apnews.com%2F89%2Fc3%2F5a67662e40ceb1da4b5ac8b7d6e8%2Fmegerian-chris.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"> <\/picture> <\/a><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>                 <bsp-timestamp data-timestamp=\"1743207824000\" data-recent-thresholdinhours=\"1\">                     <template data-date-tpl>Updated [hour]:[minute] [AMPM] [timezone], [monthFull] [day], [year]<\/template>                     <span data-date>\u00a0<\/span>                 <\/bsp-timestamp>             <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>                                                                          <bsp-page-actions>                                <\/bsp-page-actions>                               <\/div>\n<div>\n<p>WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) \u2014 President <span><a data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/donald-trump\">Donald Trump<\/a><\/span> commuted the sentence of Ozy Media co-founder Carlos Watson, a White House official said Friday, just hours before Watson was due to report to prison for a nearly <span><a data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/carlos-watson-ozy-media-trial-sentencing-08f18ac01494d0b5f0285db32ff5ecb9\">10-year sentence<\/a><\/span> in a financial conspiracy case.<\/p>\n<p>Watson was <span><a data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/carlos-watson-ozy-media-trial-80052622c5c0cc6db0a0e01b289acbf6\">convicted last year<\/a><\/span> in a closely watched case that showcased the implosion of an ambitious startup company at a time of turmoil in the media industry. He had been ordered to surrender to prison on Friday.<\/p>\n<p>The commutation was confirmed by a senior White House official who was not authorized to speak publicly about the decision and spoke on condition of anonymity. A lawyer who represented Watson declined to comment.<\/p>\n<p>Trump has aggressively used his presidential power to commute sentences and issue pardons for people who he believes were treated unfairly by the justice system. The president himself was convicted last year in a case involving hush money payments, part of what he has described as a politically motivated witch hunt against him.<\/p>\n<p>Watson\u2019s commutation was among a <span><a data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/nikola-trevor-milton-fraud-trump-pardon-3fcebb0a3820cecb205656f2dc3f6764\">string of other acts of clemency<\/a><\/span> revealed by the White House on Friday. They included Trevor Milton, the founder of electric vehicle company Nikola, who had been sentenced to four years for fraudulently exaggerating the potential of his technology and was pardoned; and three entrepreneurs who founded and helped run the cryptocurrency exchange BITMEX, which was ordered to pay a $100 million fine earlier this year after prosecutors said it \u201cwillfully flouted U.S. anti-money laundering laws to boost revenue.\u201d They had been sentenced to probation and were also pardoned.<\/p>\n<p>Ozy was founded in 2012 on a premise of providing a fresh, sophisticated-but-not-stuffy take on politics, culture and more \u2014 billed as \u201cthe new and the next\u201d \u2014 while amplifying minority and marginalized voices.<\/p>\n<p>It announced it was shutting down in fall 2021 less than a week after a New York Times <span><a data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/09\/26\/business\/media\/ozy-media-goldman-sachs.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">column<\/a><\/span> raised questions about the media organization\u2019s claims of millions of viewers and readers while also pointing out a potential case of securities fraud.<\/p>\n<p>Watson was arrested in February 2023 after two of the company\u2019s top executives pleaded guilty to fraud charges.<\/p>\n<p>Prosecutors said Watson deceived investors and lenders by inflating revenue numbers and suggesting deals were final when they were not. At one point, Watson\u2019s co-founder pretended to be a YouTube executive on a phone call with potential investors, according to prosecutors. <\/p>\n<p>After Watson\u2019s sentencing, then-Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said the jury had determined that \u201cWatson was a con man who told lie upon lie upon lie to deceive investors into buying stock in his company.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ozy Media \u201ccollapsed under the weight of Watson\u2019s dishonest schemes,\u201d Peace said. <\/p>\n<p>But Watson, who is Black, called the case \u201ca modern lynching\u201d and argued that he was the victim of \u201cselective prosecution.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI made mistakes. I\u2019m very, very sorry that people are hurt, myself included,\u201d Watson said, but \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s fair.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>U.S. District Judge Eric Komitee said during sentencing that the \u201cquantum of dishonesty in this case is exceptional.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Watson held degrees from Harvard University and Stanford Law School, worked on Wall Street, had on-air gigs at CNN and MSNBC, and boasted entrepreneurial chops. Ozy Media was his second startup, coming a decade after he sold a test-prep company that he had founded in his 20s.<\/p>\n<p>Mountain View, California-based Ozy produced TV shows, newsletters, podcasts and a <span><a data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/weather-general-news-e007e3239f4c43b2b4b9ea9cab184b91\">music-and-ideas festival<\/a><\/span>. Watson hosted several of the TV programs, including the Emmy-winning \u201cBlack Women OWN the Conversation,\u201d which appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Network.<\/p>\n<p>Ozy snagged big advertisers, clients and grants. But beneath the outward signs of success was an overextended company that struggled \u2014 and dissembled \u2014 to stay afloat after 2017, according to insiders\u2019 testimony.<\/p>\n<p>The company strained to make payroll, ran late on rent and took out pricey cash advances to pay bills, former finance vice president Janeen Poutre told jurors. Meanwhile, Ozy gave prospective investors much bigger revenue numbers than those it reported to accountants, according to testimony and documents.<\/p>\n<h2>___<\/h2>\n<p>Associated Press writer Jennifer Peltz in New York contributed to this report.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Updated [hour]:[minute] [AMPM] [timezone], [monthFull] [day], [year] \u00a0 WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) \u2014 President Donald Trump commuted the sentence of Ozy Media co-founder Carlos Watson, a White House official said Friday, just hours before Watson was due to report to prison for a nearly 10-year sentence in a financial conspiracy case. Watson was convicted [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":985,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=984"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/984\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}