Ozy Media stiffs ‘Genius Award’ recipients out of $10K grants following Carlos Watson arrest

Ozy Media has stiffed a dozen faculty children out of their $10,000 “Genius Awards” after the troubled information web site’s disgraced founder Carlos Watson was arrested on federal fraud expenses, The Put up has realized.

The bold college students — one among them a budding TikTok influencer, others aspiring educators and tech entrepreneurs — have been caught up within the beautiful implosion of Ozy Media, which boasted high-profile backers including billionaire Marc Lasry and Laurene Powell Jobs, only to face federal scrutiny over shady business practices.

Ozy Media launched its Genius Awards in 2015.

Previous recipients included Amanda Gorman, a former Nationwide Youth Poet Laureate, who gained nationwide prominence in 2021 after she recited an unique poem titled “The Hill We Climb” at President Biden’s inauguration.

The most recent recipients have been advised in December that Ozy would offer them with months of funding, knowledgeable mentorship and free publicity for his or her startups to “assist them notice their goals.”

As a substitute, two college students advised The Put up that Ozy Media has reduce off all contact since mid-March – days after Watson was arrested on allegedly bilking buyers out of $50 million – leaving them with none funding for his or her budding initiatives and a gap on their resume as a substitute.

A 3rd pupil, who spoke to The Put up on situation of anonymity, confirmed their accounts.

This system’s presenting sponsor, AT&T, additionally has been silent on the state of affairs.

“It’s been, actually, such a curler coaster,” Youssef Hasweh, a 2023 Genius Award winner and 21-year-old junior on the College of Chicago, advised The Put up.

Ozy Media’s popularity went up in flames after a sequence of damning studies by the New York Instances and different shops in late 2021 — together with one that exposed a high Ozy Media official had bizarrely impersonated a YouTube govt whereas looking for to safe an funding from Goldman Sachs.

The collapse accelerated in February, when the feds accused Watson of operating the as soon as high-flying startup “like a criminal organization” and making an attempt to bilk buyers out of hundreds of thousands of {dollars}.

“I took a selfie with Carlos. I beloved him after I met him,” mentioned Hasweh. “I feel among the most charismatic folks can haven’t the most effective intentions. I don’t assume it is a relationship that may be recovered.”

Watson, who faces 37 years in jail, was accused of making an attempt to trick a potential investor by faking a $600 million takeover offer for Ozy, amongst different alleged misdeeds.

Hasweh, in the meantime, had deliberate to make use of the funds he gained to launch a student-led scholarship advocacy program for low-income highschool college students.

“When our junior-year internship was imagined to be the largest internship on our resume, the largest job alternative thus far on our CV, numerous us will find yourself working part-time jobs or barely discovering funds to assist ourselves this summer season, which is totally devastating,” added Hasweh, who has amassed greater than 100,000 followers on TikTok, the place he shares education-related recommendation.

The scholars say they final heard from Ozy in mid-March, when Beverly Watson, Carlos’s sister and the managing editor, advised them the corporate was “pressured by the circumstances to droop its operations,” in line with an e mail obtained by The Put up.

Beverly Watson mentioned she didn’t have “any agency solutions” concerning the Genius program’s future and signaled she would offer one other replace by the top of March.

“That mentioned, must you discover extra alternatives for financing your summer season– please do discover them,” Watson advised Hasweh in a March 16 e mail.

A day later, an lawyer representing Ozy emailed no less than one pupil to say that prosecutors had “killed operations” and “eradicated all revenue” by taking motion towards the corporate.

The lawyer added that Ozy’s caretakers have been making “efforts to recuperate any belongings to make a distribution to collectors,” however by no means adopted up.

This 12 months’s Genius Awards have been being supplied in partnership with AT&T and its “Dream in Black” marketing campaign to “give particular emphasis to college students attending Traditionally Black Faculties and Universities,” in line with a press launch final September.

An AT&T spokesperson mentioned the corporate was “extraordinarily upset to be taught that the winners of the Ozy Genius Awards have been affected by the shutdown of Ozy Media.”

“We need to guarantee that these college students obtain the stipends that they have been promised, and we’re trying into this to see what we will do,” the spokesperson added.

When reached for remark, Kenneth Montgomery, a lawyer representing Ozy Media and the Watson household within the upcoming fraud trial, blamed the corporate’s lack of ability to observe via on its funding pledge on the federal indictment — which focused each Watson as a person and the corporate itself.

“The truth that deserving college students have been disadvantaged of funding for his or her faculty training is a collateral consequence of the federal government’s unprecedented prosecution of OZY Media, one of many solely Black owned media corporations in Silicon Valley,” Montgomery mentioned in an announcement to The Put up.

“The unwarranted legal expenses introduced the corporate to a whole standstill and compelled the cessation of operations,” Montgomery added. “The Watson household firmly believes in making greater training accessible to all, which is why they co-founded Achieva Faculty Prep Service nicely earlier than Mr. Watson based OZY.”

“Any folks or entities who’ve legitimate claims below the corporate dissolution course of will probably be eligible to submit their claims,” he added.

Ozy first contacted this 12 months’s group of winners final December and instantly started a promotional marketing campaign for the Genius program. All 12 winners filmed clips for “The Carlos Watson Present,” that are nonetheless viewable on YouTube and Twitter.

College students acquired a tough timeline for a way this system would proceed. One-on-one conferences with Ozy staffers have been arrange for February and a connection to an expert “mentor” for Might.

The interval of June 21 to Sept. 22 was slated for “mission implementation,” with a remaining showcase of every winner’s accomplished work scheduled for Sept. 29.

Ozy mentioned the scholars have been eligible for “mission funds” of as much as $10,000, which might be delivered in “three tranches” starting in June.

Hasweh mentioned he and the opposite college students have been “slightly confused” when most of February got here and went and not using a follow-up from Ozy Media, however determined to present the corporate extra time to reply.

As a substitute of an replace, the scholars have been blindsided by information of Watson’s arrest.

“I googled Ozy Media, simply to see what was up, and that’s after I noticed they have been truly below investigation,” mentioned Myron Layese, a 21-year-old senior at Berklee Faculty of Music in Massachusetts. “I used to be like wow, nicely, that occurred. It actually simply got here out of left discipline.”

With none steering from Ozy Media, the scholars at the moment are left with no alternative however to hunt different sources of assist for his or her initiatives – or abandon them solely.

“We had signed contracts, we have been dedicated, and we had been getting communication that didn’t make us assume that this was going to go awry,” Hasweh mentioned. “Now all of us don’t have internship alternatives, full-time alternatives – and now it’s too late to use.”

“As of proper now, I’m nonetheless fairly open to no matter’s going to come back of it,” added Layese, who deliberate to make use of the cash to fund a digital actuality app known as “Stage Fright,” which might use biometric information to assist musicians overcome efficiency anxiousness. “I’m actually hoping it’s not a misplaced trigger.”

Main as much as publication of this story, the scholars additionally expressed frustration that AT&T, the headlining sponsor, hasn’t made an effort to speak.

“I’d like for them to talk up, or no less than make a remark or one thing,” mentioned Layese. “I feel it is sensible for them to take some possession.”

Two different Ozy executives, former chief working officer Samir Rao and chief of employees Suzee Han, have already pleaded responsible to fraud and different expenses. In a separate case, the SEC charged Watson with making an attempt to rip-off buyers out of some $50 million.

Watson has maintained his innocence. In February, Watson’s lawyer, Lanny Breuer, mentioned he was “deeply upset” within the resolution to arrest his shopper, who had been cooperative with investigators.

Months after Watson’s arrest, Hasweh stays notably upset about the truth that Ozy cited its work with “the Ozy Genius Awards supporting greater than 50 younger creators” in a defensive assertion shared on Instagram on Feb. 24.

“Behind the scenes, I’m struggling to even know if I’m going to have a chance this summer season they usually’re type of placing us on this podium and this pedestal to make Ozy look higher,” Hasweh mentioned.