A Holly man and former employee of Eminem is accused of stealing, posting and receiving $50,000 for the sale of over 25 unreleased songs by the rap superstar on the internet by federal authorities.

Joseph Strange, 46, is charged in a federal criminal complaint of criminal infringement of a copyright and interstate transportation of stolen goods in connection with the sale of unreleased music created by Eminem, Acting United States Attorney Julie Beck announced Wednesday, according to a press release.

Eminel, 52, whose legal name is Marshall Mathers, owns a home in Clinton Township and grew up in Warren.

The songs, created by Eminem between 1999 and 2018, were in “various stages of development” and released without the consent of Enimen or the Interscope Capital Labels Group, says FBI Agent Brian Max in an 18-page criminal complaint.

Officials said the investigation started after employees of his music studio in Ferndale contacted the FBI on or about Jan. 16 and told agents they discovered that developmental music by Eminem was available and on sale online. The songs were being played on the sites “reddit, YouTube and leaked.cx,” Max says in the complaint.

“The music in question could only have been taken by someone with direct physical access to a secure location in the studio,” Max wrote. “Joseph Strange worked at the studio in Ferndale and had access to the music that was leaked.”

FBI agents located multiple individuals representing fan groups of people who purchased the unreleased music and identified Strange as the person who sold it to them, officials said. Strange was employed by Eminem from approximately 2007 until 2021, when he was “let go,” says the complaint.

In a Jan. 28 search of Strange’s residence, agents discovered “hard drives containing copies of the unreleased music that was made available on the internet and hand-written notes/lyric sheets created by Mathers,” Max wrote.

Financial records indicated payments to Strange for the music by three groups of fans in electronic transactions, officials said.

Mike Strange, who is currently employed at the studio as a sound engineer, told agents he is Joseph Strange’s uncle but that they “were raised together and consider themselves brothers,” the complaint says.

Mike Strange said Joseph Strange had access to the drives while he was employed at the studio, is “heavily involved in Bitcoin,” and worked as a delivery driver for a marijuana dispensary after he left the studio, according to the complaint.

Joseph Strange needed the money to fund a surgery he recently underwent, according to another witness, the complaint says. Mike Strange confirmed Joseph Strange’s surgery.

Other details in the complaint indicate someone identified as a “tipster fan,” a 31-year-old man from Ontario, Canada contacted Fred Nasser, who posted a warning on social media for Eminem fans “not to participate in distributing the leaked music.”

Online chats between the tipster fan and a person using the screen name “Doja Rat” indicated that the trio of online fan groups, one led by Doja Rat, purchased the songs from Joseph Strange for about $50,000 over several months.

Doja Rat told agents Joseph Strange claimed to have over 300 songs and “hand-written lyric sheets” created by Mathers, the complaint says. Joseph Strange used the screen name “Dope Edit” when discussing the stolen music on the Internet, according to Doja Rat, the complaint says.

“Doja Rat provided an image of a list of songs that Joseph Strange said he has access to. This image looks like an older model computer file structure with approximately 50 sub files that are listed with the title of the song in alphabetical order. Employees of Mathers recognized this as the file structure from the hard drives that are kept in the studio where the unreleased music was stored,” the complaint says.

Doja Rat said he first met Joseph Strange when Strange ran a youtube.com page under the Dope Edit name. Strange told Doja Rat he had worked as a sound engineer for Eminen, and they began negotiating the sale of music last August, the complaint says.

Doja Rat raised money from the group and paid $8,500 for four songs, sending the funds in Bitcoin as requested, the complaint says. “Doja Rat works at a bank and would take lines of credit to purchase the Bitcoin” and “would then be repaid by the aforementioned group of fans through PayPal.”

Doga Rat told agents Strange tried to sell the lyric sheets, which Strange said he obtained during a flood at the music studio, the complaint says. Strange provided images of the sheets and list of songs to which he had access.

Doja Rat informed agents he was assisted in organizing the group by a person with the screen name, “Kali Kush,” a resident of Massachusetts who provided information consistent with Doja Rat’s information, according to the complaint.

Kali Kush told agents he and a small group of fans purchased “a couple” of the unreleased songs for $1,000 from Strange, who used a false name on a Venmo account during a test $1 transaction in early August, but Strange ultimately decided to use Bitcoin for the transactions with the groups, according to the complaint.

Another group of fans who bought unreleased music — the first group to do so — was led by a Connecticut resident who had a screen name of “ATL,” and paid $1,000 for three songs last July, the complaint says. In January, the Bitcoin wallet for the transaction was transferred a “Coinbase” account, according to the complaint.

Eminem’s manager, John Fisher, identified over 100 songs created by Eminem in images that were shown to ATL, Doja Rat, and Kali Kush. Fished played one of the songs for the agents, the complaint says.

In the FBI raid on Strange’s house, agents found “numerous original hand-written lyric sheets and notes that were made by Marshall Mathers,” which Strange offered to sell, in a safe in Strange’s home, the complaint says. Also found was a VHS tape containing an unreleased music video made by Eminem, the complaint says. Doja Rat and ATL were shown an image of it by Strange.

An initial review of the thousands of audio files found on the “numerous” hard drives seized from Strange were a group of 12,000 files that not only contained Eminem’s creations but music “by other artists working with Mathers,” the complaint says.

The files of Eminem’s music show it in “various stages of development including ‘stem sessions,’” which are “audio files that contain portions of songs that are ultimately mixed together to create a song that is releasable to the public,” according to the complaint.

Officials said Strange filed a nondisclosure agreement with Eminem on Jan. 12, 2021.

Cheyvoryea Gibson, special agent in charge of the FBI in Michigan, said about the charges: “This investigation underscores the FBI’s commitment to safeguarding artists’ intellectual property from exploitation by individuals seeking to profit illegally. Thanks to the cooperation of Mathers Music Studio, FBI agents from the Oakland County Resident Agency were able to swiftly enforce federal laws and ensure Joseph Strange was held accountable for his actions.”

The charge of interstate transportation of stolen goods carries a maximum penalty of up to 10 years in prison while the charge of criminal infringement of a copyright is punishable by up to five years.