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Michael Smith sentenced to 18 months for $8M AI-music streaming fraud

Judge John Koeltl sentenced Michael Smith, 54, of North Carolina, to 18 months in prison and two years of supervised release on Oct. 6. He pleaded guilty in March to wire fraud conspiracy over AI-generated songs streamed by bots. He must forfeit $8,091,843.64. Prosecutors had sought at least 46 months.

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OUTLETS: 19
FIRST SEEN: Oct 7, 2026, 10:40 ET
LAST SIGNAL: 21d ago

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Music Business Worldwidemusicbusinessworldwide.com/man-behind-8m-ai-song-and-bot-streaming-fraud-is-sentenced-to-18-months-in-prison/

Coverage · 21 articles, oldest first

Wednesday, October 7, 2026

10:40
Billboard
A US federal court sentences Michael Smith, who pleaded guilty to using bots to stream AI-generated songs, making $8M+ in royalties, to 18 months in prison
10:40
US Department of Justice
justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/north-carolina-man-sentenced-18-months-prison-super-intelligence-assisted-music
10:40
BleepingComputer
bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/musician-gets-18-months-in-prison-for-10-million-streaming-fraud-using-ai-bots/
10:40
The New York Times
nytimes.com/2026/10/07/business/dealbook/stocks-record-energy-ai.html
10:40
Music Ally
musically.com/2026/10/07/music-streaming-fraudster-michael-smith-gets-18-month-jail-sentence/
10:40
Forbes
forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2026/10/07/north-carolina-man-gets-18-month-prison-sentence-for-8-million-ai-music-streaming-fraud/
10:40
Gizmodo
gizmodo.com/guy-who-made-millions-by-creating-ai-music-ouroboros-receives-18-month-prison-sentence-2000822638
10:40
Music Business Worldwide
musicbusinessworldwide.com/man-behind-8m-ai-song-and-bot-streaming-fraud-is-sentenced-to-18-months-in-prison/
10:40
Metro.co.uk
metro.co.uk/2026/10/07/man-jailed-8-000-000-scam-first-kind-case-29686960/
10:40
Unite.AI
unite.ai/michael-smith-receives-18-month-sentence-for-ai-music-streaming-fraud/
10:40
The Daily Hodl
dailyhodl.com/2026/10/07/north-carolina-man-sentenced-to-18-months-for-super-intelligence-assisted-music-streaming-fraud/
10:40
Stereogum
stereogum.com/2513827/botter-sentenced-to-prison-in-first-criminal-streaming-fraud-case-will-return-8m-in-slop-royalties/news/
10:40
Digital Music News
digitalmusicnews.com/2026/10/06/michael-smith-streaming-fraud-sentence/
10:40
Inner City Press
innercitypress.com/sdny275koeltlstreamingfraudsmithicp100626.html
12:10
HotHardware
hothardware.com/news/ai-music-fraudster-forced-to-face-the-music-with-18-month-sentence
12:10
Music Business Worldwide
musicbusinessworldwide.com/music-streaming-fraud-inquiry-launched-by-us-copyright-office/
12:40
Dexerto
dexerto.com/entertainment/man-sentenced-to-prison-after-pocketing-8-million-from-ai-songs-streamed-by-bots-3416335/
12:40
CMU
completemusicupdate.com/music-industry-welcomes-eighteen-month-prison-sentence-for-streaming-fraudster/
14:40
The New York Times
nytimes.com/2026/10/07/arts/music/ai-music-fraud-royalties-sentence.html
16:10
Inc.com
inc.com/moses-jeanfrancois/musician-made-8-million-dollars-fake-streams-expert-says-fix-is-simple/91415971
18:40
IPWatchdog.com
ipwatchdog.com/2026/10/07/copyright-office-solicits-comment-on-music-streaming-fraud/

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