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Prosecutors ask for at least 46 months. The AI-song and bot-stream guilty-plea case hits royalty splits for distributors and DIY uploaders (not a judgment)

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Prosecutors ask for at least 46 months. The AI-song and bot-stream guilty-plea case hits royalty splits for distributors and DIY uploaders (not a judgment)

SDNY prosecutors, in a 28 September 2026 letter filed 29 September, ask for at least 46 months and forfeiture of $8,091,843.64 against a defendant who already pleaded guilty to taking more than $8M via AI songs and bot streams. MFFA (Spotify, Amazon Music, DistroKid, Merlin, The MLC and others) asks for a deterrent first-U.S. streaming-fraud sentence. Hearing: 6 October. Not a judgment.

What happened

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, in a 28 September 2026 sentencing letter filed 29 September, asks for at least 46 months’ imprisonment and forfeiture of $8,091,843.64 against a defendant who already pleaded guilty to taking more than $8M in royalties via AI-generated songs and bot streams. Sentencing is 6 October before Judge Koeltl. The Music Fights Fraud Alliance (Spotify, Amazon Music, DistroKid, Merlin, The MLC and others) also filed, calling this the first U.S. criminal streaming-fraud case and asking for a deterrent precedent. Not a judgment.

What changed

The 22 September defense memo (Michael Smith, 24 Cr. 504 (JGK)) asked for probation and said no individual suffered perceptible harm. The delta is the government’s ask: at least the 46-month guideline floor plus the agreed forfeiture, and a filing that details bulk family-plan buys, up to about 10,000 bots, and a “ton of content with small amounts of streams” tactic. The sentence is unset until 6 October.

Whose work this affects

Distribution of AI tracks to YouTube/DSPs, and pro-rata royalty splits. The government’s letter treats bulk family plans, up to about 10,000 bots, and thin streams across a huge catalog as charging facts. MFFA says the royalty pool is finite and fake streams cut legitimate shares. These are pre-sentence claims; no term has been imposed. Not legal advice.

Do this today

Record one check: your own family-plan or multi-account plays, and the thin-stream × mass-upload ratio, against the distributor’s fraud-flag screen.

Sources

The ask, forfeiture figure, and tactics are MBW (30 September 2026, linking the 28 September SDNY letter PDF). MFFA members and the deterrent-precedent request are DMN (1 October). Not a judgment. Clickable URLs at the end.

Source: Music Business Worldwide