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Outbyte PC Repair FREERepair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Outbyte Driver Updater FREEFix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →President Donald Trump commuted Carlos Watson’s federal sentence on March 28, 2025, ordering his immediate release and ending the remaining penalties under that sentence. The signed warrant says the sentence was reduced to time served with no further fines, restitution, probation, or other conditions. It was a commutation, not a pardon: the warrant does not erase Watson’s conviction.
What Trump’s commutation did
The signed warrant dated March 28, 2025, grants Watson an “immediate commutation of his entire sentence to time served” and directs the Acting Director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons to release him immediately. It states there would be no further fines, restitution, probation, or other conditions. The warrant identifies the case as United States v. Watson et al., 1:23-cr-82. Read the signed warrant.
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A commutation reduces or ends a sentence; it is not the same as a pardon. The warrant provides the relief stated in its terms, but it does not say Watson was acquitted or that his conviction was vacated.
Watson’s conviction and original sentence
A federal jury in Brooklyn convicted Watson and Ozy Media on July 16, 2024, after an eight-week trial. The Justice Department lists Watson’s convictions as conspiracy to commit securities fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft; Ozy Media was convicted on two counts. The U.S. Attorney’s Office announcement describes the government’s account of the conduct proven at trial.
DOJ said that from 2018 through 2021, Watson and co-conspirators made false statements or omissions about Ozy’s revenue, cash, profits, celebrity relationships, acquisition prospects, financing rounds, and contracts. The government said employees were directed to create contracts bearing forged signatures and that actual media executives were impersonated in dealings with lenders and prospective investors.
The YouTube and Goldman Sachs example
In one example, DOJ said the defendants claimed YouTube had paid Ozy nearly $6 million in licensing revenue for The Carlos Watson Show; the government said YouTube had not paid Ozy for its content. DOJ also said Watson and Samir Rao arranged for Rao to impersonate a YouTube media executive in contact with Goldman Sachs, and that Watson texted Rao instructions during a February 2, 2021 call. DOJ said Ozy sought up to $45 million from Goldman Sachs and that $6 million of the contemplated investment would have gone to Watson personally if the full investment had occurred.
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In December 2024, Watson was sentenced to 116 months in prison, two years of supervised release, and restitution. The Justice Department’s clemency listing gives the restitution amount as $36,769,153.97 and notes that the sentence was amended on January 6, 2025. The DOJ clemency-grants list records the sentence and offenses.
What the restitution language means
The warrant says no further restitution is due under Watson’s commuted federal sentence. That is distinct from DOJ’s report that the scheme caused more than $60 million in actual investor losses. The $36,769,153.97 figure is the restitution amount in the DOJ clemency listing; the more-than-$60-million figure is the government’s description of investor losses. They measure different things and should not be treated as interchangeable.
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The warrant’s language describes relief in Watson’s federal criminal sentence. It does not establish what may happen in separate civil matters, which are outside the warrant’s stated terms.
Ozy Media received a separate commutation
Ozy Media, Inc. also received clemency on March 28, 2025. Its DOJ listing records a sentence of one year’s probation and $36,769,153.97 restitution. The company’s separate warrant commuted its sentence to time served, with no further fines, restitution, probation, or other conditions. Read Ozy Media’s warrant.
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What was reported about the timing and response
The Associated Press reported that the commutation came hours before Watson was due to report to prison; CBS News also carried AP’s account of the timing. That timing is reporting context—the warrant itself establishes the grant and its terms. AP’s report quoted Watson saying he was “profoundly grateful” to Trump and that the decision reflected a commitment to fairness and justice.
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