In addition, from about November 2020 through February 2021, Watson and his co-conspirators attempted to secure $45 million in funding for Ozy by misrepresenting the company’s finances, the feds alleged. According to prosecutors, Watson told the potential investor that a “well-known online video service” — which was apparently YouTube — had paid Ozy nearly $6 million in licensing revenue for his talk show, “The Carlos Watson Show.” That was a lie, according to prosecutors. In February 2021, Rao held a call with employees of the financial institution “during which he impersonated a media executive from the online video service using a voice alteration application that he downloaded onto his cellular telephone to mask his voice during the call,” the Justice Department said. During that call, Watson was in the same room as Rao and texted Rao instructions about what to say and what not to say on the call, prosecutors alleged. When staffers at the financial institution later confronted Watson about the deception, he falsely claimed that Rao “had acted alone” had impersonated the media executive as “a result of a mental breakdown,” according to the indictment.