Eminem’s former sound engineer has pleaded guilty to federal criminal charges that he stole and resold unreleased music that leaked on the internet last year.
Joseph Strange, 48, admitted Thursday to a single count of criminal copyright infringement over accusations that he was behind the incident, in which he allegedly stole more than two dozen studio demos and sold them for $50,000.
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Strange, who worked for the rap icon at his Michigan studio for more than 15 years, will face a maximum prison sentence of five years when he’s sentenced in January.
“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. “His conduct undermined both legal and artistic rights.”
In a statement to Billboard, Strange’s defense attorney Wade G. Fink called his client a “good man whose children have suffered greatly in all of this” and said that the “hyperbolic commentary from the Justice Department and others bear little resemblance to the actual facts of the case.”
“This is a much more complicated and nuanced matter than it is being made to seem,” Fink said. “Nevertheless, my client has taken accountability for what he has done, has tremendous remorse for what has happened to his family, and has great faith, as do I, in the judges of our district to see this case for what it is.”
Strange was charged in March with criminal copyright infringement and interstate transportation of stolen goods over the stolen music, which appeared online in early 2025. The stolen materials included tracks with collaborators 50 Cent and Dr. Dre, as well as an alleged Suge Knight and Ja Rule diss track from 2003.
“These leaked songs were studio efforts never meant for public consumption … demos, experiments and ideas that are dated and not relevant so many years later,” the star’s spokesperson told Billboard at the time. “The latest in a line of unfinished material released against artists’ will and without their permission.”
According to federal prosecutors, those songs were taken by Strange, who worked at Eminem’s studio from 2007 until 2021, and then sold during the summer of 2024 for roughly $50,000. When the songs leaked, the feds say they proved far more valuable than that.
“Data provided by several streaming providers evidenced that, as of November 2025, infringing audio files identified by the government had been accessed more than eight million times,” prosecutors wrote Thursday. “The infringement amount of the stolen files is estimated to be at least $750,000.”
Eminem is hardly the first star to face leaks. Ariana Grande filed a high-profile lawsuit earlier this year over the hacking of her unreleased music, and BTS, Madonna, Megan Thee Stallion and Ye (formerly Kanye West) have all previously taken civil or criminal legal action after their material was leaked online.
Following his guilty plea, Strange will face sentencing on Jan. 27.