Primary source: Justice Department press release, Oct. 22, 2026

Joseph Strange, 48, of Holly, Michigan, pleaded guilty Thursday in the Eastern District of Michigan to criminal copyright infringement over unreleased recordings by Marshall Mathers, the artist known as Eminem, the Justice Department said¹.

He is to be sentenced on Jan. 27, 2027, and faces up to five years in prison^1,2. WXYZ reported the five-year maximum and a January 2027 hearing, without naming the day³. A judge will set any term after weighing the federal sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors¹.

Strange worked for Mathers from about 2007 until 2021 at a studio in Ferndale, Michigan, where Mathers developed music, the department said, citing court documents^1,2,3. He helped operate a computer system that stored the recordings and had access to password-protected drives holding material that was not meant for release¹.

Without authority, he copied at least 10 audio files from those drives, the department said¹. In July and August 2024 he transmitted at least 10 of the files to buyers over the internet for about $50,000, and Mathers had not known of or approved the sales¹.

Files he sold were later made available on public streaming services, and Mathers had not approved that or known about it beforehand, the department said¹. The release says the government alleged that no commercial release was imminent or certain, though some of the music had been prepared for a possible release and, in some cases, mastered in a studio¹. As of November 2025, the department said, files it identified had been accessed more than 8 million times, and it put the infringement amount at $750,000 or more¹. Variety reported the same access count and estimate².

Variety reported that Strange was charged in March 2025 with copyright infringement and with interstate transportation of stolen goods, after buyers posted more than 25 songs online in January². WXYZ also reported both of those charges and said Thursday's plea was to the copyright count³. The department's release describes the copyright plea and does not mention the other count¹.

Variety, citing the original complaint, reported that a buyer who used the name Doja Rat said he had paid Strange $50,000, and that Strange had said he held more than 300 songs and handwritten lyric sheets². WXYZ, also drawing on the complaint, reported that the buyer was in Ontario and that the group paid $50,000 in bitcoin over six months, and that agents searching Strange's Holly home on Jan. 28, 2025, found lyric sheets, a videotape and drives with about 12,000 audio files, some of them by artists who had worked with Mathers³. The plea account does not name a buyer, mention bitcoin, or give those file totals¹.

The department and Variety describe Strange as 48^1,2. WXYZ's article, which still includes material from the charging period, says he is 46³. Variety, citing the complaint, and WXYZ call him a former sound engineer; the department describes a former employee who worked on the studio's computer system^1,2,3.

Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva said Strange had abused a position of trust by copying and selling unreleased music the artist had not authorized for public distribution¹. Jennifer Runyan, special agent in charge of the FBI's Detroit office, said, "Today's guilty plea reinforces a simple principle: accountability follows those who compromise the integrity of another person's creative labor"¹.

A representative for Eminem did not immediately answer Variety's request for comment Thursday². WXYZ still carries a statement spokesperson Dennis Dennehy gave the station about the charges, thanking the FBI's Detroit office for the investigation that produced them; that statement does not address the plea³. None of the three accounts included a comment from Strange or from a lawyer for him, and the department did not say whether the other 2025 count was dismissed or what sentence it will seek^1,2,3.

Reuters also posted a report Thursday on the same guilty plea; its article was blocked from retrieval (HTTP 401) and is not used for additional facts here⁴.

ClickOnDetroit, citing federal prosecutors, independently reported the same plea facts as the department: Strange is 48, of Holly; the sale window is July and August 2024; the price is about $50,000 for at least 10 files; sentencing is Jan. 27, 2027; and identified files had been accessed more than 8 million times as of November 2025⁵. That local account does not add the 2025 complaint's buyer name, bitcoin payments or extra file counts⁵.

Sources

1. U.S. Justice DepartmentFormer Eminem Employee Pleads Guilty to Criminal Infringement of CopyrightOct 22, 12:49 PM
2. VarietyFormer Eminem Employee Pleads Guilty to Stealing and Selling Unreleased MusicOct 22, 1:20 PM
3. WXYZEx-employee pleads guilty to stealing & selling unreleased Eminem music from Ferndale studioOct 22, 12:54 PM
4. ReutersFormer Eminem employee pleads guilty to criminal copyright infringementOct 22, 4:05 PM
5. ClickOnDetroitEminem’s former employee pleads guilty to selling unreleased musicOct 22, 4:56 PM

Read the original at U.S. Justice Department ↗