Prosecutors Seek 46 Months for Michael Smith in $8M AI Streaming Fraud Case

U.S. prosecutors want at least 46 months in prison and $8.09 million forfeiture for Michael Smith ahead of his October 6 sentencing in the first U.S. criminal streaming-fraud case.

MMub Music Staffat 10/4/2026 - 7:25:18 AM

Prosecutors Seek 46 Months for Michael Smith in $8M AI Streaming Fraud Case

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</p> <p>U.S. prosecutors have asked a Manhattan federal judge to sentence Michael Smith to at least 46 months in prison and order forfeiture of about $8.09 million after he pleaded guilty to a years-long scheme that used bots to stream AI-generated songs and divert royalties. Sentencing before Judge John G. Koeltl is set for October 6, 2026. The Southern District of New York’s letter, covered by Music Business Worldwide and Digital Music News, calls the case the first U.S. criminal prosecution for streaming fraud.</p> <p>Prosecutors say Smith ran as many as 10,000 bot accounts, spread artificial plays across hundreds of thousands of tracks, and took more than $14 million from royalty-paying entities before an agreed loss figure of $8,091,843.64. In one comparison cited in the filing, his catalog drew 80.9 million YouTube Music family-plan streams in April 2023 versus 9.3 million for Taylor Swift’s entire catalog. Smith’s lawyers have sought probation; federal guidelines put the range at 46–57 months, while Probation recommended 24 months.</p> <p>The Music Fights Fraud Alliance, whose members include Spotify, Amazon Music, DistroKid, EMPIRE, and The MLC, urged a deterrent sentence, arguing fraudulent streams dilute the shared royalty pool for legitimate creators. The MLC told the court Smith and associates denied play manipulation and AI authorship after payments were halted. Spotify previously told MBW its controls limited Smith’s royalties on its platform to roughly $60,000.</p> <p><em>Image: Streaming fraud illustration — Shutterstock AI / Music Business Worldwide — https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/prosecutors-want-man-who-pocketed-8m-using-ai-songs-and-bot-streams-imprisoned-for-at-least-46-months-saying-he-stole-from-hard-working-songwriters/</em></p> </div></div></div></div></div></div></main><footer class="border-line-bottom mt-5 flex w-full flex-row border-t px-0 pt-7.5 pb-2.5 text-center max-sm:mt-12.5"><div class="mx-auto w-full max-w-300 px-4"><div class="mb-4 flex w-full flex-col items-center gap-2"><p class="typography-responsive font-open text-text-4" style="font-weight:400;--typo-font-size:16px;--typo-line-height:24px;--typo-xs-font-size:16px;--typo-xs-line-height:24px">Mub Music - All rights reserved.</p><a href="/privacy-policy/" class="text-subtitle hover:text-primary text-sm underline-offset-2 hover:underline">Privacy 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object-cover\"}]}]\n1a:T893,\u003cp\u003eVisual\u003c/button\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\n\u003cbutton type=\"button\" id=\"content-html\" class=\"wp-switch-editor switch-html\" data-wp-editor-id=\"content\"\u003eCode\u003c/button\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"wp-content-editor-container\" class=\"wp-editor-container\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"ed_toolbar\" class=\"quicktags-toolbar hide-if-no-js\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ctextarea class=\"wp-editor-area\" style=\"height: 300px\" cols=\"40\" name=\"content\" id=\"content\"\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eU.S. prosecutors have asked a Manhattan federal judge to sentence Michael Smith to at least 46 months in prison and order forfeiture of about $8.09 million after he pleaded guilty to a years-long scheme that used bots to stream AI-generated songs and divert royalties. Sentencing before Judge John G. Koeltl is set for October 6, 2026. The Southern District of New York’s letter, covered by Music Business Worldwide and Digital Music News, calls the case the first U.S. criminal prosecution for streaming fraud.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eProsecutors say Smith ran as many as 10,000 bot accounts, spread artificial plays across hundreds of thousands of tracks, and took more than $14 million from royalty-paying entities before an agreed loss figure of $8,091,843.64. In one comparison cited in the filing, his catalog drew 80.9 million YouTube Music family-plan streams in April 2023 versus 9.3 million for Taylor Swift’s entire catalog. Smith’s lawyers have sought probation; federal guidelines put the range at 46–57 months, while Probation recommended 24 months.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Music Fights Fraud Alliance, whose members include Spotify, Amazon Music, DistroKid, EMPIRE, and The MLC, urged a deterrent sentence, arguing fraudulent streams dilute the shared royalty pool for legitimate creators. The MLC told the court Smith and associates denied play manipulation and AI authorship after payments were halted. 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