NEW YORK (Reuters) – Ozy Media on Thursday sued startup news outlet Semafor and its founder Ben Smith for allegedly stealing trade secrets from the U.S. media and entertainment company, court records released on Thursday showed.
Ozy and its CEO Carlos Watson were themselves criminally charged earlier this year for scheming to defraud investors of tens of millions of dollars by misrepresenting the company’s debts, financial performance and audience size. Both pleaded not guilty.
Neither Smith nor Semafor’s communications team immediately responded to requests for comment.
Ozy’s complaint alleged that Smith gained an inside view into the company’s operations when Buzzfeed, the digital media outlet he once led, considered acquiring Ozy in 2019.
“Semafor was a spitting image of the media company that Carlos Watson had formed a decade earlier: OZY,” the complaint read.
Buzzfeed, which shuttered its news unit in April, is also named as a defendant. Smith launched Semafor in October 2022.
(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Richard Chang)
