\n
![](\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/img-assets\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/GettyImages-2151466522-e1718397898514.jpg?w=2048\")
<\/p>\n [ad_1]
\n<\/p>\n
Google<\/a> CEO Sundar Pichai testified briefly Friday at the federal financial conspiracy\u00a0trial surrounding buzz-to-bust startup Ozy Media<\/a>, countering founder Carlos Watson\u2019s alleged claims that the search giant once sought to buy Ozy.<\/p>\n Google did consider hiring Watson for a high-level news executive job in 2021 and putting $25 million into Ozy in something of a tradeoff for luring him away, Pichai told jurors.<\/p>\n \u201cMr. Watson was a critical part of Ozy Media, and we were considering making an investment in the company to make the transition easier,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n But \u201cdid you ever offer to purchase Ozy Media for $600 million?\u201d prosecutor Dylan Stern asked.<\/p>\n \u201cNo,\u201d replied Pichai, who heads Google and parent Alphabet Inc.<\/p>\n He said he had been introduced to Watson at a conference and then in a video interview for a possible Google job interacting with news outlets. Neither the hire nor the $25 million investment ultimately happened.<\/p>\n According to prosecutors, Watson later told another prospective investor that Pichai himself had extended a nine-figure offer to buy Ozy. The Mountain View, California-based company produced TV programs, podcasts and a music-and-ideas festival before\u00a0falling apart in fall 2021<\/a>\u00a0amid questions about whether it had flagrantly misrepresented its audience reach, deals, and finances.<\/p>\n Ozy Media lawyer Shannon Frison said in an emailed statement Friday that it\u2019s \u201cunequivocally untrue\u201d that Watson told anyone that Google had made a $600 million offer.<\/p>\n \u201cHe never had such a conversation with Google and never told any person that he did,\u201d Frison said.<\/p>\n Watson and Ozy Media have\u00a0pleaded not guilty<\/a>\u00a0to charges including conspiracy to commit fraud. He has said that he built a robust and real company, didn\u2019t con anyone, and is being singled out for prosecution when he made, at most, entrepreneurial \u201cmistakes.\u201d<\/p>\n Defense lawyers have blamed any misrepresentations on Ozy co-founder Samir Rao, saying he is falsely implicating Watson in hopes of avoiding prison himself. Rao pleaded guilty to identity theft and conspiring to commit fraud, and he is awaiting sentencing.<\/p>\n He testified earlier in the trial that his \u201cmoral compass\u201d got scrambled by ambition, desperation to keep the company going and \u201cCarlos\u2019 deep belief that failure was not an option and we had to do whatever it took.\u201d<\/p>\n Among other deceit, Rao infamously posed as a YouTube<\/a> executive \u2014 even using a phone app to disguise his voice \u2014 in order to champion Ozy to Goldman Sachs<\/a> investment bankers on a February 2021 call.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was one of the most disturbing calls that I have ever been on in my career,\u201d Goldman executive Hillel Moerman testified Friday, calling the episode \u201ca surreal experience.\u201d<\/p>\n Rao testified that he did the phone trick to back up a false claim that YouTube was paying for Watson\u2019s eponymous talk show. Rao said Watson was with him during the call, texting him about what to say: \u201cI am a big fan of Carlos, Samir and the show,\u201d read one text that was shown to jurors.<\/p>\n Defense lawyer Ronald Sullivan Jr. has said Watson came into the room during the call, realized \u201ca live train wreck\u201d was unfolding and tried to get Rao to end the conversation.<\/p>\n On the other end, Moerman thought the putative YouTube exec\u2019s voice seemed obviously \u201coff,\u201d among other clues that made the Goldman bankers suspicious, he recalled Friday.<\/p>\n One of his colleagues soon called the actual executive at YouTube, which is owned by Alphabet. The ruse unraveled. So did the potential for a Goldman investment.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had been lied to,\u201d Moerman explained to the Brooklyn federal court jury.<\/p>\n Goldman Sachs did keep advertising with Ozy after the episode, according to Rao\u2019s testimony.<\/p>\n Watson told Goldman and Ozy\u2019s board that Rao had suffered a mental health crisis. Rao told jurors he was taking antidepressants at the time but wasn\u2019t having a psychiatric break.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nSubscribe to the Eye on AI newsletter to stay abreast of how AI is shaping the future of business. Sign up<\/a> for free.<\/div>\n