Kaleil Isaza Tuzman is a former entrepreneur associated with digital media, who spent more than 20 years in that industry before being convicted of multiple counts of fraud in 2017.
Tuzman started his career at Goldman Sachs, was co-founder of GovWorks.com (the subject of the 2001 documentary Startup.com, which followed the company from its founding to its bankruptcy[2]), served as President of JumpTV, until he changed its name to KIT Digital, Inc. and served as its CEO and chairman until its bankruptcy in 2013 [3] On September 7, 2015, he was arrested in Colombia and held in a Bogotá prison until being extradited to the United States[4] to face charges of fraud and market manipulation in connection with the defrauding of investors in KIT Digital and two investment funds.
After graduating from Harvard University, Tuzman worked for five years at Goldman Sachs, before launching govWorks, Inc., an Internet startup, along with his childhood friend Tom Herman.
Among dozens of projects, KIT Capital managed the sale of Tigris Corp., a privately held strategic sourcing and supply chain consultancy based in New York City, to Verticalnet, Inc. in 2004.
[14] In May 2005, Tuzman was brought in as the President of JumpTV, a small start-up that focused on delivering foreign Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) content.
[16] In late 2007, Tuzman sold in the public market a substantial portion of his shareholding interest in JumpTV, which subsequently floundered.
The conditions at La Picota prompted his legal team to file a complaint with the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights (part of the Organization of American States), which was signed by over 150 other inmates citing numerous abuses such as lack of medical care, lack of running water, extortion, etc.
In the years between leaving KIT Digital and his arrest, Tuzman sought to develop a luxury hotel called "Convento Obra Pia" in Colombia.
[28] While awaiting sentencing for the KIT Digital convictions, Tuzman was sued by investors in the hotel project who accused him of stealing $5.4 million.