Sign up for The Media Today, CJRâs daily newsletter.
President Donald Trump commuted the sentence of Carlos Watson on Friday, hours before the former media executive was due to turn himself in to serve a nearly ten-year prison sentence.
Watson was convicted last summer of wire fraud and identity theft, for his role in misleading investors and inflating the revenue of his news startup Ozy Media. In December, he was sentenced to nine years, eight months in prison, and ordered to pay nearly $100 million in forfeiture and restitution.Â
Ozy Media was once seen as a darling of progressive media startups during an era when venture capital funding flowed freely into the digital news space. The outlet distinguished itself for its youth and willingness to prioritize frequently marginalized voices, and for several years it appeared to be growing rapidly.
The end came in the fall of 2021, when the New York Times reported that Watsonâs deputy Samir Rao had impersonated an executive from YouTube during a conference call with potential investors. Watson initially denied knowing anything about the call, but during the trial acknowledged that he was in the room for it.
Watson and his allies have spent much of the time since his conviction attempting to make a case to the public that the prosecution had been racially motivated and selective, referring to it as a kind of âmodern lynching.â
At his sentencing, the judge, Eric R. Komitee of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, in Brooklyn, noted that Watson had shown little evidence of remorse. âThe quantum of dishonesty in this case was exceptional,â he said at the time. âI donât see any reason why, as soon as you were able to, that you wouldnât simply repeat the behaviors that led us to this point.â
Has America ever needed a media defender more than now? Help us by joining CJR today.
