Former Eminem Employee Joseph Strange Pleads Guilty: Sold More Than 10 Unreleased Audio Files for About $50,000
Joseph Strange, 48, of Holly, in Oakland County, Michigan, has pleaded guilty in the Eastern District of Michigan, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced. Strange, who was formerly employed by the artist and musician Marshall Mathers, also known as Eminem, pleaded guilty to criminal infringement of a copyright, a charge related to his role in the reproduction and sale of unreleased music created by Eminem.
According to court documents, Strange was an employee of Mathers from approximately 2007 until 2021. He worked at a studio in Ferndale, Michigan, that Mathers used to create and develop music, helped set up and operate a computer system that stored music created by Mathers, and had access to password-protected hard drives containing music in the process of being developed that was not yet meant to be released to the public. Without authority, Strange copied 10 or more audio files of music and material in various stages of development from those drives. Between July and August 2024, he sold and transmitted 10 or more of the files to purchasers over the internet for a total of approximately $50,000, without Mathers's knowledge or authorization.
The files Strange sold were ultimately released online and made available on public streaming platforms. According to facts alleged by the government, as of November 2025 the infringing audio files identified by the government had been accessed more than eight million times, and the infringement amount of the stolen files is estimated to be at least $750,000. The case began in January 2025, when employees of Mathers's Ferndale studio contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) after discovering unreleased music available on the internet; buyers identified by the FBI named Strange as the seller. He was charged in 2025 with criminal infringement of a copyright and interstate transportation of stolen goods.
Strange is scheduled to be sentenced on January 27, 2027, and faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison; a federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. “Joseph Strange abused a position of trust to unlawfully copy and sell unreleased music belonging to Eminem, profiting from works that were not yet authorized for public distribution,” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department's Criminal Division. “Our republic is built on the right to property,” said U.S. Attorney Jerome F. Gorgon Jr. for the Eastern District of Michigan. “We will protect that right by punishing criminals who steal the physical or intellectual property of Americans.” The FBI is investigating the case, which is being prosecuted by Senior Counsel Vasantha Rao of the Criminal Division's Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Timothy Wyse and Alyse Wu for the Eastern District of Michigan. (GSM, based on a U.S. Department of Justice announcement of October 22)
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Photo: 图：Eminem（2021 年资料图）。照片：Brendan_linden，CC0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Eminem (2021 file photo). Photo: Brendan_linden, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.
