The Federal Bureau of Intelligence has taken American singer Michael Smith into custody over a $10 million royalty scam orchestrated through bot-driven streams.
Smith is accused of leveraging Artificial Intelligence and bots to rack up billions of fraudulent song streams.
He now faces serious charges, including three counts of wire fraud, wire fraud conspiracy, and money laundering conspiracy.
According to the Justice Department, each charge could result in up to 20 years behind bars.
“As alleged, Michael Smith fraudulently streamed songs created with artificial intelligence billions of times to steal royalties,” the department stated in their news release.
Damian Williams, the U.S. Attorney handling the case, emphasized the magnitude of the fraud: “Through his brazen fraud scheme, Smith stole millions in royalties that should have been paid to other rights holders whose songs were legitimately streamed.
Thanks to the FBI and the career prosecutors of this Office, it’s time for Smith to face the music.”