All episodes  ·  EPISODE 21  ·  MAR 27, 2025  ·  38 min

The AI Hitmaker: Michael Smith's $10 Million Stream Scheme

What if you could create thousands of songs using AI… and make millions off them without a single fan? That's exactly what prosecutors say Michael Smith did.

In this episode of The Ponzi Playbook, Javier and Neal are joined by criminal defense attorney Elliot Abrams to unpack a case that's not your typical Ponzi scheme—but definitely fraud-adjacent. We're talking about AI-generated music, armies of bots streaming tracks nonstop, and royalty checks that rival Mariah Carey's Christmas classic.

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