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\n\tThe North Carolina man who used artificial intelligence to create thousands of fake songs<\/a> by invented artists, then unleashed an army of bot accounts to stream the tracks billions of times and siphon millions from royalty pools meant for legitimate artists, should face \u201csignificant punishment,\u201d prosecutors say.<\/p>\n \n\tIn a new letter filed Tuesday and obtained by Rolling Stone<\/em>, Manhattan federal prosecutors urged a judge to sentence Michael Smith to at least 46 months behind bars for his admitted scheme. Smith\u2019s defense is asking for no jail time, only probation. Federal probation officials are recommending 24 months in prison. Smith\u2019s sentencing is set for Oct. 6 in Manhattan federal court.<\/p>\n \n\tIn their letter, prosecutors said Smith became so adept at artificially inflating streams of his music on platforms including Apple Music<\/a>, Spotify<\/a>, Amazon Music, and YouTube Music that his share of subscription-funded royalty pools sometimes exceeded shares allotted to the industry\u2019s biggest stars. In April 2023, for example, Taylor Swift\u2019s entire catalog drew 9.3 million streams from YouTube Music family-plan subscribers, prosecutors said, while Smith\u2019s catalog generated 80.9 million.<\/p>\n \n\tProsecutors said Smith pocketed more than $8 million in unearned royalties overall, perpetrating his \u201cmassive fraud\u201d for more than six years. They argued that a stiff sentence is necessary \u201cto provide just punishment\u201d and deter other white-collar criminals in the future.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cImposing a substantial term of incarceration will send a clear message that defrauding social services programs, no matter who you are, will result in significant punishment,\u201d Assistant U.S. Attorneys Nicholas W. Chiuchiolo and Kevin B. Mead wrote in their letter to the court. \u201cIf the public is watching this case, as the defendant claims, a lenient sentence will send precisely the wrong message: streaming fraud will not result in meaningful punishment.\u201d<\/p>\n