Ozy Media CEO Touted Fake $600 Million Buyout Offer, US Says (1)

Ozy Media Inc. Chief Executive Officer Carlos Watson lied to an investor that his California-based company had received a $600 million takeover offer from a large tech firm, federal prosecutors in New York said in a wide-ranging fraud indictment against the startup and its boss.

Watson, of Mountain View, California, was arrested by FBI agents Thursday in Manhattan on charges that he conspired to defraud investors out of tens of millions of dollars, Brooklyn US Attorney Breon Peace said. Meanwhile, Ozy’s former chief operating officer, Samir Rao, and its chief of staff, Suzee Han, secretly pleaded guilty to ...