# Man sentenced to 18 months for AI music streaming fraud

_Published Thursday, October 8, 2026 at 7:19 PM EDT · Products · Latest · Tier 2 — Notable_

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Michael Smith of Cornelius was sentenced to 18 months in prison for a scheme that stole more than $8 million in streaming royalties using AI-generated music and automated accounts, Yahoo reported. He pleaded guilty in March to conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

Prosecutors said Smith created thousands of fake profiles on services including Amazon Music, Apple Music, Spotify and YouTube Music, then continuously streamed hundreds of thousands of tracks he owned. He spread plays across thousands of tracks to avoid detection of unusual spikes on individual songs. The scheme ran from 2017 to 2024. Smith must also serve two years of supervised release and repay more than $8 million.

## Sources

- [Yahoo](https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/articles/cornelius-man-sentenced-prison-streaming-175356455.html)

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Canonical: https://techandbusiness.org/newswire/s6JckAdarn22wEnMW5JkyF
Published: 2026-10-08T23:19:06.352Z
Story chronology: 2026-10-07T17:53:56.000Z
Retrieved: 2026-10-09T01:25:52.349Z
Publisher: Tech & Business (techandbusiness.org)