Trump commutes prison sentence for Ozy Media's Carlos Watson

Patricia Hurtado and Hadriana Lowenkron, Bloomberg News on Mar 28, 2025

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WASHINGTON — Ozy Media co-founder Carlos Watson, who was set to begin serving his nearly 10-year prison term for lying to investors in his startup, had his term commuted by President Donald Trump on Friday, according to a senior White House official.

Watson was convicted last July by a federal jury in Brooklyn, New York, of a wire fraud conspiracy, securities fraud and aggravated identity theft for a scheme to con investors out of tens of millions of dollars.

He was sentenced in January to 116 months in prison and ordered to forfeit almost $60 million and pay more than $36 million in restitution. He had been scheduled to report to a federal prison in California on Friday.

Trump this week also issued pardons to the three co-founders of the storied crypto exchange BitMex and to Trevor Milton, the founder of Nikola Corp. who was facing four years in prison after he was convicted of defrauding investors in the electric-truck maker.

Arthur Aidala, a lawyer for Watson, had asked a federal appeals court in Manhattan to allow him to remain free as he fought the charges, but Trump commuted Watson’s sentence. Unlike a pardon, a commutation means the conviction isn’t erased.

Prosecutors declined to comment. Aidala didn’t respond to a message seeking comment.

The evidence at trial showed Watson staged a deceptive phone call with two bankers at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to raise funds.

Ozy, a once-lauded startup backed by billionaire investor Marc Lasry, collapsed shortly after The New York Times reported on the deception in 2021. Prosecutors said Watson told one investor that Google Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai had offered to buy Ozy for hundreds of millions of dollars. Pichai testified that he never discussed a purchase.

In imposing a prison term, U.S. District Judge Eric Komitee, who presided over the case and was appointed by Trump, said “the quantum of dishonesty in this case is exceptional.”

The commutation was reported earlier by CNBC.