During the fraud trial, Google CEO Sundar Pichai rejects a $600 million offer for Ozy Media.

Alphabet Inc. CEO Sundar Pichai recently testified at the fraud trial of Ozy Media Inc. co-founder Carlos Watson, vehemently refuting any ambitions by Google to acquire the media startup. Watson is accused of misleading investors by stating that Google was interested in paying hundreds of millions of dollars to acquire Ozy.

The claims that Watson faked reports about Google’s involvement in Ozy and deceived investors about Ozy’s financial situation have brought the trial a lot of attention. The New York Times revealed in 2021 that Samir Rao, the Chief Operating Officer of Ozy, had pretended to be a senior YouTube official while on the phone with bankers from Goldman Sachs, which sparked the start of this scandal. Since then, Rao has entered a guilty plea, acknowledging that the impersonation was a component of a plot to mislead investors about Ozy’s profitability.

In his testimony, Pichai stated that although Google never talked about buying Ozy Media, it did contemplate appointing Watson to lead its news programming. A $25 million investment in Ozy was part of this possible deal to support Watson’s shift. Pichai emphasized, though, that there was never an offer of $600 million to purchase Ozy Media.

Attorney Dylan Stern explicitly questioned Pichai on whether Google had made an offer of $600 million for Ozy Media, to which Pichai replied, “No.” He made it clear that he had only ever met Watson twice, during a job interview in February 2021, a few weeks after the fictitious call with Goldman Sachs, and once more briefly at a conference. Pichai’s evidence refuted Watson’s assertions that, following the collapse of the Goldman agreement, another investor was convinced to contribute $20 million by means of Ozy, based on the CEO of Google reportedly demonstrating a strong interest in the company.

When Rao pretended to be YouTube executive Alex Piper, a Goldman Sachs banker named Hillel Moerman called the conversation “one of the most disturbing” of his career, pointing out that the voice sounded abnormally deep and inhuman. The goal of this questionable conversation was to convince Goldman Sachs to make a $35 million investment, but it was eventually canceled.

In her testimony, Goldman banker Allison Berardo echoed Moerman’s story, saying that the caller’s voice “did not sound like a human voice” and that it astounded the two bankers. The peculiarity of the impersonation and the extent Watson and Rao went to trick prospective investors were highlighted by their testimonies.

The chief of staff for Ozy, Suzee Han, has pled guilty and is assisting the prosecution. She has acknowledged lying about Ozy’s prior performance and financial situation. Han declared, “We, by which I mean Carlos, lied about the company’s performance at the time, so the performance of the company now.” We made false claims regarding the company’s performance.”

The trial is still exposing the fraudulent actions that ultimately brought about Ozy Media’s demise, exposing a complex network of deceit and manipulation by the company’s senior officials. The testimony of Pichai, Moerman, Berardo, and Han illuminates the complex plan that finally caused the once-dominant media startup to fail as the lawsuit moves forward.