A former audio engineer at Eminem's Effigy Studios is expected to plead guilty in Detroit federal court to selling dozens of the rapper's unreleased tracks for roughly $50,000 in Bitcoin, in a case that reads like a music-industry heist movie — right down to a codenamed buyer and a hidden VHS tape.

Joseph Strange, 48, worked at Effigy Studios in Ferndale, Michigan, from 2007 to 2021 and was one of only four people with access to the studio's password-protected master recording safe, according to The Detroit News. He's due before U.S. District Judge Brandy McMillion.

25 Tracks, One Alias, One Vault

Prosecutors say Strange sold at least 25 unreleased Eminem recordings, made between 1999 and 2018, to online collectors for about $50,000 in Bitcoin, dealing with a buyer who went only by "Doja Rat," according to Decrypt. Investigators allege files were copied onto an external hard drive plugged into the vault's master drive on two separate occasions in 2019 and 2020.

The FBI raided Strange's Michigan home on Jan. 28, 2025, recovering roughly 12,000 audio files, handwritten lyric sheets and an unreleased music video on VHS tape, according to Hoodline.

A HIDDEN VAULT. A BITCOIN BUYER. A VHS TAPE.

Strange is charged with criminal copyright infringement, which carries up to five years in prison, after prosecutors agreed to drop a harsher interstate-transportation-of-stolen-goods count that could have carried up to a decade behind bars. The guilty plea is reportedly targeted for Oct. 22.

A spokesperson for Eminem said the leaks "inflict real harm on an artist's creative legacy and financial collaborators."

What's Next

If the plea goes forward as expected on Oct. 22, sentencing would follow at a later date to be set by the court. Strange remains free ahead of the hearing.