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Freeman [soylentnews.org] writes:

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/06/youtube-scammer-who-stole-millions-in-song-royalties-sentenced-to-5-years [arstechnica.com]

A YouTube scammer conspiring to run what Billboard described [billboard.com] as possibly the largest music royalty scam in history, Jose Teran was recently sentenced [arstechnica.net] by the US government to 70 months in prison.

He was hit with a "significant sentence," US attorney for the District of Arizona, Gary Restaino, wrote in the sentencing memo, because of the "greed and the great lengths" that Teran's scam went over the course of five years to fraudulently claim rights to 50,000 songs. Ultimately, the scam routed $23 million in royalty proceeds away from mostly Latin artists and into the bank accounts of Teran and his co-conspirators.

Teran, the sentencing memo said, "obtained more than $6 million in personal profits" and continued pocketing $190,000 in stolen royalties—which he hid from officials—even after he was indicted for the fraud. Partly because of this, Teran is considered a "high-risk to re-offend," Restaino wrote.
[...]
Artists attempted to bring a class-action lawsuit against YouTube to gain access to systems to monitor their royalties and stop royalty theft, but that case was dismissed earlier this month [arstechnica.net] before going to trial.

Teran could attempt to run the scam or something like it again, Restaino wrote. The US government considers Teran at high risk to re-offend, partly because just 12 days after being summoned for his indictment, he promptly created a new bank account to stash additional stolen payments sent from AdRev.

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