In late June, Jose Teran was sentenced to 70 months in jail for his half within the roughly $23 million MediaMuv royalties rip-off. Now, the court docket has formally authorized a plea deal for Webster Batista Fernandez, Teran’s associate within the illicit operation.
The presiding decide only recently signed off on the plea deal, which Fernandez agreed to again in March of 2022. In short, he and Teran admitted to falsely claiming possession of a large number of Spanish-language songs, with Downtown’s AdRev having been enlisted to safe the YouTube royalties on the heart of the scheme.
Quite a few the ripped-off rightsholders at hand drew consideration to the felony exercise on social media – seeming to allege perpetrators besides these highlighted above, it’s value mentioning – and the federal government continues to be figuring out individuals and entities with stakes within the many affected works.
Again to Fernandez’s plea deal and imminent sentencing, the 35-year-old’s authorized crew about 10 days in the past formally requested “a sentence of 48 months’ imprisonment, mixed with important restitution.”
Inside the similar sentencing memorandum, the counsel of Dominican Republic-born Fernandez (who’s been imprisoned since November of 2021) included a number of character references from the royalty scammer’s household and pals, along with driving house his purported efforts “to rehabilitate his life.”
“Webster is sincerely remorseful for his conduct and has discovered an essential lesson on account of his actions and separation from his household,” Fernandez’s crew wrote partially. “Webster is particularly regretful for the affect that his conduct is having on his household, as he shall be separated from his youngsters, together with his child who is just 20 months outdated, who shall be with out a father throughout his interval of incarceration.”
Additionally within the memorandum, the attorneys emphasised their consumer’s lack of a previous felony historical past and acknowledged that the probation workplace had “advisable a sentence of 60 months for” conspiracy and a 97-month sentence for wire fraud, with the “low-end” sentences to run concurrently.
In the meantime, Fernandez’s precise plea deal likewise stipulates that his sentences for the 2 counts will run concurrently and that his time behind bars “shall not exceed the low finish of the sentencing vary” as calculated below federal tips. Plus, the MediaMuv felony shall be on the hook for as much as $25 million in restitution to victims – on high of the forfeiture of a number of financial institution accounts, properties, and vehicles.
Among the many latter are accounts containing north of a cumulative $1.02 million, a 2017 Tesla automobile in addition to a 2014 BMW i8, and a Phoenix house with a Zillow-estimated market worth of $1,036,200, in line with the authorized doc.