United States District Judge Eric R Komitee sentenced Watson to 116 months in prison for conspiracy to commit securities fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.
“Carlos Watson orchestrated a years-long, audacious scheme to defraud investors and lenders to his company”, said Breon Peace, US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.
“His incessant and deliberate lies demonstrated not only a brazen disregard for the rule of law, but also a contempt for the values of honesty and fairness”.
Watson will remain free for now on a $3m (£2.3m) bond.
He had pleaded not guilty but was convicted in July following an eight-week trial.
In court, Watson said he was a businessman who believed in what his company was doing and had put every effort into trying to make it a success.
His lawyer had argued that he was betrayed by his deputies who had acted on their own volition and hid their wrongdoing from him.
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