{"id":365975,"date":"2021-11-11T18:57:40","date_gmt":"2021-11-11T15:57:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/ozy-media-faces-doj-sec-investigations\/"},"modified":"2021-11-11T18:57:40","modified_gmt":"2021-11-11T15:57:40","slug":"ozy-media-faces-doj-sec-investigations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/ozy-media-faces-doj-sec-investigations\/","title":{"rendered":"#Ozy Media faces DOJ, SEC investigations"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;<strong>#Ozy <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Media<\/a> faces DOJ, SEC investigations<\/strong>&#8221;<\/p>\n<div>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module alignleft\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>The Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission have launched investigations into embattled digital media firm, Ozy Media, according to a report. <\/p>\n<p>The SEC and DOJ have contacted companies that had dealings with Ozy, <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/11\/10\/business\/ozy-doj-sec-investigations.html\">The New York Times reported<\/a> Wednesday, citing anonymous sources. DOJ investigators spoke to at least one company that did business with Ozy, and the SEC has contacted at least two companies that discussed investing in the firm, the report said. <\/p>\n<p>The SEC and DOJ did not immediately return requests for comment. <\/p>\n<p>While the central focus of the investigation is unknown, the probe comes a month after The Times revealed that Ozy\u2019s co-founder and COO Samir Rao\u00a0impersonated a YouTube executive on a call with potential investor Goldman Sachs. That article and several follow-up stories have also claimed that Ozy frequently inflated key business metrics to other investors and even lied to its own employees about business operations.\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"684\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/11\/ozy-media-federal-investigation-01.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1024\" alt=\"Carlos Watson\" class=\"wp-image-20108928\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/11\/ozy-media-federal-investigation-01.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1536 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/11\/ozy-media-federal-investigation-01.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/11\/ozy-media-federal-investigation-01.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>Ozy Media CEO Carlos Watson has been at the center of a New York Times expos\u00e9 about how his company misled investors and inflated business metrics to raise cash. <\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Getty Images for Ozy Media<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Goldman Sachs walked away from its potential investment in Ozy after it discovered that it had been misled during the conference call, which took place in February.<\/p>\n<p>Insiders told The Post that in recent months, David Solomon\u2019s bank spent nearly $300,000 on a new advertising partnership with Ozy, which went up in flames as scandals came to light, including a high-profile one, in which Watson\u00a0lied about getting an investment from Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne after the duo filed a 2017<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thewrap.com\/ozzy-osbournes-company-sues-ozy-fest-promoters-in-logo-dispute\/\"> trademark lawsuit<\/a>\u00a0over Ozy Media\u2019s annual concert and festival, which is called Ozy Fest. <\/p>\n<p>For years, The Osbournes had produced the Ozzfest music festival, which featured acts such as Black Sabbath, Tool and Slayer.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"684\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/11\/ozy-media-federal-investigation-02.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1024\" alt=\"Malcolm Gladwell (L) and Carlos Watson speak onstage during OZY Fest 2018 at Rumsey Playfield, Central Park on July 22, 2018 in New York City. \" class=\"wp-image-20108938\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/11\/ozy-media-federal-investigation-02.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1536 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/11\/ozy-media-federal-investigation-02.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/11\/ozy-media-federal-investigation-02.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>Ozy Fest was one of Ozy\u2019s marquee events, drawing speakers, musicians and comedians to its stage.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Getty Images for Ozy Media<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Federal authorities got involved after Goldman Sachs alerted YouTube\u2019s security team, which prompted its parent company, Google to contact them. The report did not specify the timing, however.<\/p>\n<p>With Ozy\u2019s business unraveling, the\u00a0FBI launched a probe in late September into the phone call\u00a0that alleged Rao pretended to be a YouTube exec in order to drum up investor dollars. On Oct. 1, Ozy announced it was shuttering amid the FBI investigation and the media frenzy surrounding the company. In a bizarre turn of events, Watson said the decision to close the company had been reversed just three days later. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re going to open for business, so we\u2019re making <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">news<\/a> today,\u201d Watson\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.today.com\/news\/ozy-media-ceo-carlos-watson-tells-today-company-still-business-lazarus-rcna2544?cid=sm_npd_td_tw_ma\">said while appearing<\/a> on NBC\u2019s \u201cToday\u201d on Oct. 4.  \u201cThis is our Lazarus moment, if you will, this is our Tylenol moment. Last week was traumatic, it was difficult, heartbreaking in many ways.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"761\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/11\/ozy-media-federal-investigation-04.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1024\" alt=\"Guests brave the rain for Passion Pit during OZY Fest 2018 at Rumsey Playfield, Central Park on July 22, 2018 in New York City.\" class=\"wp-image-20108972\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/11\/ozy-media-federal-investigation-04.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1535 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/11\/ozy-media-federal-investigation-04.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/11\/ozy-media-federal-investigation-04.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>Sharon and Ozzy Osy Osbourne filed a trademark lawsuit against Ozy Media over the company\u2019s annual festival, Oz Fest.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Getty Images for Ozy Media<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>According to The Times\u2019 most recent report, Watson had informed investors via email last month that Ozy had \u201cheard from\u201d the SEC and DOJ, adding that the company had hired the law firm Zuckerman Spaeder \u201cto help us navigate the investigations.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Since that email, Ozy enlisted Andrew Levander, the chairman of the law firm Dechert, for legal counsel, the report said.<\/p>\n<p>Rao, who co-founded Ozy with Watson in 2013, is reportedly no longer with the company.\n                        <\/p><\/div>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. 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The SEC and DOJ have contacted companies that had dealings with Ozy, The New York Times reported Wednesday, citing anonymous sources. DOJ investigators spoke to at&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":365976,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/11\/ozy-media-federal-investigation-preview-1.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1024","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[74898,118783,118848,71391,70358,70514,118849],"class_list":["post-365975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-sec","tag-11-11-21","tag-carlos-watson","tag-department-of-justice","tag-investigations","tag-justice-department","tag-ozy-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365975","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=365975"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365975\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/365976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=365975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=365975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=365975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}