Brooklyn federal prosecutors announced on X that a jury found Watson guilty of all three charges against him: conspiracy to commit securities fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. AdvertisementProsecutors alleged that Watson conspired to deceive investors and lenders in order to keep the cash-strapped company alive. Watson testified that Ozy’s cash squeezes were standard startup speed bumps and that materials given to investors noted that the information wasn’t audited and could change — “like ‘buyer beware,’” he said. The defense blamed any misrepresentations on Ozy co-founder and chief operating officer Samir Rao, who has pleaded guilty. AdvertisementWatson, a cable news host who’d worked on Wall Street and sold his own education-related startup, conceived of Ozy in 2012.

Source: Huffington Post July 17, 2024 07:01 UTC