Latest news with #Ozy
Chicago Tribune
5 days ago
- Chicago Tribune
Elmhurst K9 Ozy remembered as ‘very talented,' ‘part of the community'
A beloved member of the Elmhurst Police Department died suddenly last month, leaving a hole in the hearts of all who worked with him, along with the residents he met during his brief yet memorable six-year career. And although he never said a word, his work spoke volumes. He chased down armed criminals, detected illegal drugs, found lost people and befriended school children and senior citizens. His name was Ozy and he was a German shepherd. Cancer claimed his life on June 5, two days after he had emergency surgery on his spleen. A memorial service was held for Ozy on July 3 in front of the police station. Police Chief Michael McLean and Officer Brandt Cappitelli reflected on Ozy. Cappitelli on June 3 noticed Ozy didn't seem himself. It turns out his spleen had ruptured and he had the emergency surgery. 'Ozy did a great job after surgery. He was up and walking around. I was amazed,' McLean said. The spleen surgery, however, unveiled a type of cancer called hemangiosarcoma, McLean said. Just two days later Ozy was in distress again and there was nothing more that could be done. 'It was very sad for us because Ozy was an active part of this police department, working with us every day,' McLean said. Ozy was the eldest of the department's two canine officers. 'When people ask me what our philosophy is for policing in Elmhurst, I like to say we're very community based, community focused. We're also a high-performing police department from an investigation standpoint 'Our canines have to be the same way. They're the embodiment of our policing philosophy,' McLean said. Ozy was 'very talented,' McLean said, and would 'protect our officers really well.' 'He was also really great with the community, doing all sorts of canine demonstrations for them, great for seniors and for children,' McLean said. Gina Minick, of Elmhurst, and 10-year-old daughter Tessa have first-hand memories of Ozy. Tessa was in the fourth grade at Hawthorne Elementary this spring when Ozy and Cappitelli visited a meeting of Girl Scout Troop 56194. Gina had invited Cappitelli and Ozy after she met both during a 12-week citizens police academy where residents learn about the department. 'We learned all about the canine unit. I said, 'Hey, can you please attend a Girl Scout meeting',' Gina said. During the meeting at their school, the girls learned all about Ozy's skills. 'The takeaway for the girls and for me was how Ozy helps keep our community safe,' Gina said. 'The girls agreed it was their favorite Scout meeting of the year. He was an incredibly calm and friendly dog.' Tessa said Ozy 'was really fun to have at Girl Scouts,' adding, 'he let us pet him.' She and her mother were sad to learn of his death. Ozy's career began in 2019 when he was paired with Cappitelli. They were partners 24/7 as Ozy went to the home of Cappitelli, living with him, his wife and their four children. 'The best job in the department if you ask me. … On duty and off duty, the responsibility is huge. Responsible for him all the time, but it's definitely worth it. … He was the ultimate canine, the type of dog handlers want to have,' Cappitelli said. His children, now ages 13 to 19, were 7 to 13 when Ozy moved in. 'He was phenomenal with the kids,' said Cappitelli, who joked that Ozy was their home security system. Over the years, Ozy worked on many cases. One that stands out for Cappitelli and McLean was last year when a ring of thieves was breaking into vehicles at night. A loaded handgun was stolen from one. One of the suspects was found living in a house near a park. 'We figured he would run,' McLean said. Sure enough, as officers closed in, the man 'bailed out of a window in the back of the house and took off running in a park.' Noting the man could be armed, McLean said 'it was a dangerous situation for our officers.' 'Officer Cappitelli made the right call. He sent Ozy ahead to do the apprehension, to keep the officers safe,' McLean said. To prevent any potential problems, all of Ozy's commands are spoken in German, not English, Cappitelli said. 'Ozy did his job and ran ahead, apprehended the suspect, allowing the offices to catch up and take the man into custody safely,' the chief said. 'That speaks to the training and dedication our canine and our handler have. You're trusting that dog will do exactly what he's trained to do, and Ozy did the job. He kept our officers and the community safe,' McLean said. A canine officer jumps on a suspect and bites if need be. It was needed this time. 'When we train him, it's always the arm or the leg. Most people give up when they see the dog. This guy didn't want to give up. Ozy had to do the whole routine,' Cappitelli said. Ozy was also trained to detect heroin, meth and cocaine. When Elmhurst police stopped a car and suspected illegal drugs inside, Ozy would walk around the vehicle, using his strong sense of smell. 'His alert was sitting down. If he smelled something, he's going to sit and wait for his reward, which was a rubber ball,' Cappittelli said. Ozy was trained to find missing persons. If a bank robber dropped a hat, for example, Ozy would sniff it and start tracking. Elmhurst's other police dog is Tommy, a Dutch shepherd and Belgian Malinois mix. The department hopes to acquire another dog, McLean said. Aug. 14 will be bittersweet in the department as it would be Ozy's 8th birthday. Meanwhile, mornings aren't the same. 'When he heard me start to get dressed (in my uniform) and heard the clink of my belt, he would come up to my room and wait for his collar because he knew it was time to go to work,' Cappitelli said. On duty, Capitelli never fed Ozy a full meal, not wanting to weigh him down, but there were exceptions. 'If he did well, on occasion we'd share some Portillo's French fries.' The loss of Ozy will be felt in other towns as well as. Elmhurst often lends its two police dogs to departments without canine units. 'Ozy wasn't just a crime fighter,' McLean added, 'he was part of the community.'
CBS News
06-06-2025
- CBS News
Elmhurst K9 officer Ozy dies after suffering abdominal issue, police say
The Elmhurst Police Department is mourning the loss of beloved K9 officer Ozy. Ozy was taken for veterinary care on Tuesday after he was presented with an abdominal issue. He was initially doing well, but his health declined, and he passed away on Thursday with his partner, officer Brandt Cappitelli, at his side. According to the department, Ozy joined the department in 2019 and was partnered with officer Cappitelli. "Ozy's legacy will live on through the lives he touched and the community he protected. In every call, every search, and every moment spent with his team, Ozy showed the true meaning of loyalty and service. His protection, love, and dedication will never be forgotten," the department said.
Yahoo
01-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Secret Svengali Behind Trump's Most Bizarre Pardon Yet Revealed
Carlos Watson was on his way to the federal correctional facility in Lompoc, California—to serve an almost 10 year prison sentence—when President Donald Trump saved him. Just hours before Watson was to surrender last Friday, he heard that Trump had commuted his sentence. The order also meant he would no longer have to pay $96 million in restitution and forfeiture. It was an extraordinary plot twist for Watson. In July, he was convicted of a massive fraud in an eight-week trial which revealed how his media company Ozy—the buzzy start-up that seemed to be inexplicably everywhere and nowhere at once throughout the 2010s—had been built on lies. I spent my summer watching that trial for a three-part podcast on Watson's rise and fall. Now, it seems, he is rising again. And dodging 10 years in federal prison might not even be the final twist in the plot. I'm told by a source close to Watson that a full pardon is still being explored and may come next. The clemency was facilitated by Dr. Topeka Sam, a prison reform activist, who was introduced to Watson by his spokesperson Juda Engelmayer. Sam is perhaps best known for bringing attention to the case of Alice Marie Johnson, a mother of five who was then serving a life sentence for a nonviolent drug offense, ultimately inspiring Kim Kardashian to lobby the first Trump administration on her behalf. Johnson's sentence was commuted in 2018 and she was granted a full pardon 2 years later. She currently serves as the Trump administration's 'pardon czar.' Sam and Johnson remain close, according to Engelmayer. For a Black man who will tell you himself he embodies the American dream - born to teachers of modest means in Florida and educated at Harvard and Stanford – his sudden turn to Trump is shocking but not entirely surprising. Watson is a man who has always been able to talk his way into and out of anything. When Watson spoke at his sentencing in December, he turned his back to the judge and faced the gallery to talk directly to his family and friends. After thanking them for their support, he began to reel off a list of his accomplishments of his now defunct media company, concluding 'I loved what we built with Ozy.' Eventually the judge cut him off and ordered him to turn back and face the court. It felt more like a campaign stop—or acceptance speech—than the show of remorse or heartfelt plea for leniency one might expect from a man who had just months before been convicted of aggravated identity theft and conspiring to defraud investors of millions of dollars and facing up to 37 years in prison. As a reminder, Carlos Watson's company began to unravel when The New York Times published this article revealing that in Feb. 2021, Watson's co-founder, Samir Rao, used a voice changing app to impersonate a YouTube executive on a funding call with Goldman Sachs. The call was a desperate attempt by Watson and Rao to raise $45 million because Ozy was running out of cash. Instead, it led to an FBI investigation and a criminal indictment. Rao and Watson's former chief of staff Suzee Han were also indicted and turned on Watson, testifying at his trial that he was the driving force behind the fraud and a domineering leader who demanded total control. In one particularly dramatic piece of testimony, Han, who was 25 when she went to work for Watson, said that at some point the pressures of the conspiracy got so great that she told Watson she could understand 'why someone would want to kill themselves' and Watson's response was to suggest that he or Rao should go to therapy with her. Rao testified for 6 days, detailing a number of lies he helped Watson tell investors. Watson told them that Oprah was investing $10 million in Ozy (she was not). That A-Rod and Jennifer Lopez were leading an investment round (they were not). That Google's CEO had offered to buy the company for $600 million (he testified at trial that he had not). Prosecutors also said that Watson lied about the size of Ozy's audience; about TV shows he never sold; and about revenue numbers, doubling and tripling them to show enormous growth that did not exist. And because of those lies, investors put at least $75-100 million into Ozy Media over the course of six years. (Notably, Laurene Powell Jobs, who he had been friends with for 20 years, was his lead investor at launch.) But in court, Watson conceded nothing. He stood by everything he has said – even when presented with clear evidence to the contrary. He took the stand and said he did nothing that others in digital media and Silicon Valley more broadly weren't doing and that his company was brought down by ruthless competitors (The New York Times and Buzzfeed) intimidated by his enormous success. He insisted that the company was poised for a comeback when he was arrested in 2023, even though it had lost the majority of its board, investors and staff. He repeated those claims in his statement Friday, calling the cases 'baseless' and saying he was the victim of 'a malicious campaign orchestrated by a jealous competitor at a rival media company.' But he also took them a step further, saying that 'OZY... was on the brink of becoming Silicon Valley's first Black-owned publicly traded company before these wrongful actions derailed our progress.' There's no evidence that Ozy was on the brink of any such thing and plenty of evidence that it was not. It's that very tenuous relationship to the truth, the utter lack of remorse and that complete abdication of responsibility that has left some of his former employees who I spoke to over the weekend absolutely furious at this turn of events. They couldn't quite believe that he had someone managed to work the system yet again and will now likely never have to admit to any wrongdoing. It's an interesting case for the Trump administration to take up — seemingly at odds with much of their stated views on racial issues and DEI. Watson, who is black, insisted throughout his trial and sentencing that the charges against him were racially motivated. He launched a website called 'Too Black for Business' where he has railed against 'white collar racism,' pointing out that the 'hostile white judge' overseeing his case was a Trump appointee and said his prosecution was 'part of a broader pattern in America's history of tearing down Black excellence.' He called the case a 'modern lynching' in his sentencing speech. Other Black entrepreneurs have not rallied in his support, rejecting his racial framing of the charges. The most vocal, Roland Martin, called him 'OJ two point oh' and said of Watson's troubles 'If you're doing some illegal s---, don't be trying to all of a sudden cloak yourself in blackness.' And it's worth noting that U.S. Attorney Breon Peace who brought the charges against Watson is himself a Black man. Watson made no mention of any racial issues in his statement about his commutation, instead thanking the president, with whom he is not known to have a relationship, for 'his unwavering commitment to fairness and justice' and saying 'President Trump has once again demonstrated his courage in standing up against the weaponization of the legal system by unscrupulous actors who aim to destroy innovative companies.' When the judge imposed his sentence in December, he talked about Watson's 'denial of responsibility' and 'striking determination' to blame others. And he said that he was concerned that Watson would likely reoffend if given the opportunity: 'I don't see any reason why, as soon as you were able to, that you wouldn't simply repeat the behaviors that led us to this point.' That opportunity has come now, so much sooner than even Watson dared to dream it could. Listen to Susie Banikarim's full podcast The Unraveling of Ozy Media by clicking here.
Axios
31-03-2025
- Business
- Axios
Trump pardons a bunch of white-collar crooks
President Trump on Friday pardoned two startup founders convicted of investor fraud, and three crypto exchange co-founders who had plead guilty to violating anti-money laundering laws. Why it matters: There's never been a better time to be a white-collar crook. Pardon 1: Trevor Milton, co-founder and CEO of bankrupt electric truckmaker Nikola Motors. His most egregious act may have been sharing a video that purported to show a fully functional prototype, whereas the truck actually was rolling down a small hill. And then there was the lying about billions of dollars in orders. Milton was sentenced to four years in prison for both securities and wire fraud, and ordered to pay nearly $700 million in restitution. He had been free on appeal, during which time he donated bigly to Trump-related groups. Oh, and his lawyer was the brother of U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi. Pardon 2: Carlos Watson, co-founder and CEO of defunct Ozy Media. You may remember Ozy Media for a phone call during which Watson's co-founder, who plead guilty and cooperated with prosecutors, pretended to be a YouTube executive while on a reference call with prospective investor Goldman Sachs. Plus, lots of lying about company financials and proposed deals. Watson was literally on a plane to prison when the pardon arrived. In a statement, he reiterated his argument that the prosecution was "driven by a malicious campaign orchestrated by a jealous competitor at a rival media company" — an absurd claim based on the phone call first being reported by then-NY Times reporter Ben Smith, whose former company once held takeover talks with Ozy. He also claimed that Ozy "was on the brink of becoming Silicon Valley's first Black-owned publicly traded company before these wrongful actions derailed our progress." Ozy had never filed paperwork to go public, nor were there any such conversations ever reported. Instead, it was trying to raise new VC funding. Finally, Watson thanked Alice Marie Johnson, who was famously granted clemency by President Trump after public support from Kim Kardashian. Pardon 3: Co-founders and a former employee of BitMEX, who had violated the Bank Secrecy Act by failing to implement AML and KYC procedures. The exchange itself later pleaded guilty to similar charges. The quartet had been tried by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, as had been Trevor Milton. It's the same office that charged and convicted Trump, earning his public ire. Watson was tried by the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.
CNN
30-03-2025
- Business
- CNN
Trump pardons Trevor Milton, who was accused of fraud related to bankrupt truck maker Nikola
President Donald Trump says he pardoned Trevor Milton, the CEO of now-defunct hydrogen and electric truck firm Nikola, in part because he believed Milton was persecuted for supporting Trump's political ambitions. In October 2022, a New York jury convicted Milton on federal charges of securities fraud and wire fraud. Prosecutors in the US Attorney's Office in the Southern District of New York had accused Milton of making false and misleading statements about 'nearly all aspects of the business' as it pertained to developing electric and hydrogen-powered trucks, as well as defrauding the public through social media and podcast interviews. He was sentenced in 2023 to four years in prison. He had been free on bail as he appealed the conviction. On Thursday evening, Milton posted on X that he'd received a phone call from Trump, who informed him he'd been granted a 'full and unconditional pardon.' 'This pardon is not just about me—it's about every American who has been railroaded by the government, and unfortunately, that's a lot of people,' Milton wrote. The pardon, which will spare Milton from serving time in prison, would also allow him to avoid court-ordered payments to compensate shareholders. In his remarks Friday, Trump suggested Milton's case was unfairly moved to New York from Utah. And he alleged — without evidence — that he was targeted for being a Trump supporter. 'They say the thing that he did wrong was he was one of the first people that supported a gentleman named Donald Trump for president. He supported Trump. He liked Trump. I didn't know him, but he liked him,' he said during an otherwise unrelated event. 'There are many people like that,' he added later. 'They support Trump, and they went after him.' Also on Friday, Trump commuted the sentence of Ozy Media founder Carlos Watson, just hours before he was set to surrender to prison, two people familiar with the matter confirmed to CNN. Watson was convicted last summer for defrauding investors and lying about his company's finances. He's a former cable news anchor and investment banker who was accused of lying to investors about the now-defunct startup's finances and sham deals with Google and Oprah Winfrey. In December, Watson was sentenced to nearly a decade in prison. As CNN reported at the time, Ozy imploded in 2021 after news reports questioned its audience numbers and revealed that a top executive had impersonated a YouTube executive during a call with Goldman Sachs bankers in which he claimed the streaming site agreed to pay for exclusive rights to an Ozy show. The White House declined to comment. This story has been updated with additional reporting.
