Eminem’s ex-employee is facing federal charges after allegedly leaking the rapper’s music.
On Wednesday, the Department of Justice issued a press release revealing that Joseph Strange had been charged with criminal copyright infringement and interstate transportation of stolen goods.
The copyright infringement charge has a maximum five-year prison sentence and a fine of up to $250,000, while the interstate transportation of stolen goods charge has a maximum 10-year prison sentence.
According to the Detroit Free Press, in January, at least 25 unreleased Eminem songs which he recorded between 1998 and 2018 appeared online. The songs were stored on a hard drive that the FBI reportedly found in Strange’s Detroit home in late January.
Authorities also discovered multiple hard drives containing thousands of audio files, as well as handwritten lyrics and notes, and a videotape with an unreleased Eminem music video.
“The significant damage caused by a trusted employee to Eminem’s artistic legacy and creative integrity cannot be overstated, let alone the enormous financial losses incurred by the many creators and collaborators that deserve protection for their decades of work,” Em’s spokesperson Dennis Dennehy told the outlet.
It seems one of the leaked tracks was “Smack You,” which dissed Suge Knight and Ja Rule. At the time, Eminem’s spokesperson said the song was “never meant for public consumption” and was a “dated” record.
A Canadian man allegedly paid Strange $50,000 in Bitcoin for the music, which was pooled together by a group of Eminem fans.
Strange was employed as an audio engineer at Eminem’s Effigy recording studio in Ferndale, Michigan, from 2007 to 2021. Eminem’s password-protected hard drives were stored at the studio, and Strange was only one of four people who had access. His brother, Mike Strange, still works at Effigy as an engineer.
The FBI caught a break in the case when Eminem’s longtime producer, Fredwreck, was contacted by a UK-based Eminem fan and tipster, who shared conversations he had with an internet user called Doja Rat. It was later discovered that that person was allegedly the Canadian man who paid Strange.
Doja Rat handed over a list of the leaked songs, and Effigy employees verified that those tracks could be found on the Ferndale hard drives. Doja Rat and the other fans are not named in the complaint and are not facing charges.
“Protecting intellectual property from thieves is critical in safeguarding the exclusive rights of creators and protecting their original work from reproduction and distribution by individuals who seek to profit from the creative output of others,” acting U.S. Attorney Julie Beck said in a statement.
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