ENCORE: Ozy Media: Pivot to Fraud | 206

About this episode

This episode explores the story of Carlos Watson and Ozy Media, highlighting the lies behind a failed media startup.

We’ll be back in two weeks with brand new episodes. In the meantime, here’s one of our favorite episodes, about a wannabe media magnate whose big vision ran on even bigger lies. Carlos Watson is a Stanford Law School graduate with big Silicon Valley connections and even bigger dreams. When he pitches investors on his idea for a Millennial-focused news website called Ozy Media, it seems like a sure bet. It’s the early 2010s, and online media start-ups have generated tons of buzz – and more importantly, tons of clicks. But Carlos doesn't actually know what he’s doing. And when Ozy fails to attract the readers he’s promised his investors, he decides to ditch the business of truth-telling and go rogue. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Topics covered

• media fraud
• investor deception
• online media
• startups
• truth-telling

Keywords

• Ozy Media
• Carlos Watson
• media fraud
• investors
• online startups

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Ozy Media, Stanford Law School

Places: Silicon Valley

More episodes of Scamfluencers

• ENCORE: Rod Blagojevich: All the Governor’s Men | 217 · June 8, 2026 · 45 min
• New Season - Dr. Death: The Cowboy · June 4, 2026 · 6 min
• ENCORE: Jho Low: How to Buy Friends and Influence People | 216 · June 1, 2026 · 44 min
• Kyle Sandler: The Alabama Startup Scam | 215 · May 25, 2026 · 55 min
• Listen Now: OnlyFantasy · May 21, 2026 · 7 min
• Marianne Smyth: The Fake Irish Heiress | 214 · May 18, 2026 · 59 min