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Photo by Wesley Tingey on Unsplash Credit: Wesley Tingey

One of the most infamous cases of fraud in the music-streaming world was the theft of $23m of YouTube music royalties.

A company called MediaMuv claimed to own the rights for a number of tracks by Latin American artists and claimed their royalties in a scheme that ran between 2016 and 2021 before it was discovered.

Since then the legal wheels have been turning: earlier this year, MediaMuv co-founder Jose Teran accepted a plea deal in the case, admitting to counts of conspiracy, wire fraud and transactional money laundering.

Now he’s been sentenced to 70 months in prison, according to Billboard. The sentence aims to “deter others from replicating this scheme. Without it potential fraudsters would be encouraged to attempt similar efforts, believing any potential punishment is worth the payment,” according to the official filing.

Teran’s co-founder Webster Batista Fernandez, who also accepted a plea deal, will be sentenced in mid-August.

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