He Faked a Google Executive's Voice. It Almost Worked.

To close a $40 million investment round, Ozy Media co-founder Samir Rao impersonated a YouTube executive on a conference call with Goldman Sachs — vouching for audience numbers the company didn't really have. This is the full Ozy Media story: Carlos Watson's Ivy-League-and-Goldman rise, the blue-chip backers, the claim of ~50 million monthly users that independent measurement (Comscore) put at a tiny fraction of that, the New York Times exposé that caught the fake call, the federal fraud conviction — and the presidential commutation that erased a roughly 10-year sentence on the morning it was set to begin. Legal note: Carlos Watson was CONVICTED of fraud by a federal jury (July 2024); co-founder Samir Rao and executive Suzee Han pleaded guilty. In 2025 Watson's sentence was COMMUTED — a commutation ends the punishment but does NOT erase the conviction or imply innocence; the jury's verdict stands. Sharon Osbourne's denial and the Comscore figures are attributed to those sources. Figures are attributed to the DOJ / EDNY, the SEC, the New York Times, and court records. Sources include: U.S. DOJ / EDNY, the SEC, the New York Times (Ben Smith's reporting), Comscore, and court filings. #business #ozymedia #carloswatson #media #riseandfall