A former employee of Eminem is facing the repercussions of his actions. Two months after a collection of unreleased songs from the rapper surfaced online, Joseph Strange, a staff member, has been connected to the incident.
Now, the Michigan native is charged with criminal infringement of a copyright and interstate transportation of stolen goods. Per the criminal complaint, the investigations began in January when other employees contacted the FBI after the unreleased music went viral.
The songs were under development and recorded by the Grammy winner between 1999 and 2018. Upon further investigation, the authorities located individuals buying the songs, and they initially purchased them from Strange. Authorities then searched Strange’s residence in Detroit and discovered a hard drive with audio files. The files contained songs by Eminem and other artists working with him. An unreleased videotape from the Mockingbird rapper and handwritten lyrics and notes were also found.
Strange was an audio engineer at the singer’s Effigy recording studio in Ferndale. He worked there for approximately 14 years. The former staffer was one of the four employees with access to the password-protected hard drives containing the tracks.
Authorities disclosed that the first break in the case came when the identity of the buyers was discovered. An internet user with the name Doja Rat said he had paid the ex-worker about $50,000 for the stolen songs. The user even provided a list of the tracks received.
Other employees at Effigy Studio confirmed that the list was identical to the hard drive version at the studio. More fans also admitted to paying several amounts to the former employee to get the rapper’s songs.
The special agent in charge, Cheyvoryea Gibson, highlighted the agency’s devotion to the case. In her words, “This investigation underscores the FBI’s commitment to safeguarding artist’s intellectual property from exploitation by individuals seeking to profit illegally.”
With the charges against him, the former audio engineer faces up to five years in prison and a fine of about $250,000 if found guilty. The news of the charges against the former employee soon went viral, and fans reacted.
“From working for Eminem to risking 5 years in prison. Still fun to leak songs?!,” one user commented.
“They got his a**,” another user cheered. “Well, I’m happy for Em, but damn I’m happy that Smack you saw the light of day. It’s selfish, but I can’t help it.”
A third fan penned, “Eminem is such a stand-up dude in real life. His former employees come up in news articles and they’re the criminals.”
Eminem is yet to issue a statement on the recent update, but dealing with such betrayal can never be easy.
