By Lauren Victoria Burke, NNPA Newswire Contributor
Carlos Watson, the co-founder of Ozy Media, is loudly claiming on social media and in a well-produced video that he has been targeted as a Black entrepreneur in the mostly white tech world.
Ozy collapsed after Watson was indicted for fraud in February 2023. Federal prosecutors alleged that Watson and his company defrauded investors out of “tens of millions.” Prosecutors claim that Watson ran a company that was a fraudulent scheme to fool financial supporters based on false information about Ozy.
But in the tech world, over-inflating user data and success is generally standard practice. Watson is arguing that his prosecution is racially biassed and that he was using often used tactics by tech entrepreneurs.
“The U.S. legal system criminalizes the actions of black #entrepreneurs such as OZY Media Founder Carlos Watson while giving their white counterparts a pass. Black entrepreneurs receive 1% of venture funding and 51% of the prosecution,” wrote Watson on social media on June 21.
Watson’s legal defense team is asking the Department of Justice to conduct a racial bias investigation on the Brooklyn prosecutors who are working on his case. Watson claims that the three white prosecutors focused on him have overwhelmingly prosecuted Black people and other people of color while only ten percent of their prosecutions are Black.
In February, federal prosecutors accused Watson of running Ozy “like a criminal organization.”
“There’s a not-so-secret track record of double standards in prosecution of Black people for identical allegations as our counterparts. Acknowledging this does not suggest indifference, but of the reality we face,” wrote Dr. Nehemiah Mabry on twitter regarding Watson’s prosecution.
Ozy recently released a statement regarding ten one thousand dollar grants that have not been delivered to their “genius award” recipients.
Kenneth Montgomery, an attorney on Watson’s legal team, said in a statement that, “the unwarranted criminal charges brought the company to a complete standstill and forced the cessation of operations. The Watson family firmly believes in making higher education accessible to all, which is why they co-founded Achieva College Prep Service well before Mr. Watson founded OZY.”
Carlos Watson, 53, is a graduate of Harvard University, Stanford University and Stanford Law School.
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Lauren Victoria Burke is an independent journalist and the host of the podcast BURKEFILE and publisher of Black Virginia News. She is a political analyst who appears regularly on #RolandMartinUnfiltered. She may be contacted at [email protected] and on twitter at @LVBurke
