Ozy Media CEO Carlos Watson, a journalist, entrepreneur and television host, was arrested on Thursday and charged with misleading investors about revenue and projections, authorities said.
The anchor-turned-CEO was busted after a former startup partner pleaded guilty to fraud charges in a secret federal court proceeding, prosecutors said.
Watson was arrested by the FBI at a Manhattan hotel, and is scheduled to be arraigned in Brooklyn Federal Court on charges of conspiring to commit securities fraud and conspiring to commit wiring fraud, authorities said.
Watson, 53, “engaged in a scheme to defraud Ozy’s potential investors, potential acquirers, lenders and potential lenders” by misrepresenting the company’s audience numbers and financial results, prosecutors for the Eastern District of New York said in a court document dated Wednesday.
The company had announced plans to shut down in 2021 after The New York Times reported Ozy co-founder Samir Rao had impersonated a YouTube executive during a February business call with Goldman Sachs.
But the content-creation company decided to keep its operations going.
Watson and Rao co-founded Ozy in 2013. The brand creates content such as podcasts and TV series, including “Black Women OWN the Conversation” on the Oprah Winfrey Network and “The Contenders: 16 for ‘16″ on PBS.