A Bad Week for Music Criminals: Business Manager Sean Welch Begins Eight-Month Prison Sentence After Stealing from Juice WRLD and Others

It’s been a bad week for music lawbreakers– consisting of streaming scammer Michael Smith and now organization supervisor Sean Welch, who’s reported to federal jail after pleading guilty to wire scams.

Said guilty plea got here in December 2025, following a preliminary indictment in early 2024. DMN was very first to break down the criminal problem in information; the brief variation is that the Industry Management Group creator Welch was implicated of defrauding Juice WRLD and others by “professing to handle their financial resources and rather embezzling the cash for himself.”

Formerly, the operation’s accurate scope (and the quantity Welch need to be bought to pay) was the topic of argument; the person had actually carried out “important work for numerous customers” and was entitled to genuine payment, his legal group argued when looking for a lower figure.

Obviously, these arguments were to some level effective: the administering judge in early August purchased Welch to pay $332,814.76 in restitution, well underneath the $1.37 million loss, restitution, and forfeit overall determined by the federal government.

He’ll likewise need to pay an unique fine of the exact same quantity, for an overall of $665,629.52, the judgment reveals. That is, naturally, a considerable amount– and one Federal Defenders of New York-repped Welch is apparently not able to cover at present.

According to the judgment, he’ll make a $100 lump-sum payment upfront, and from there, the restitution will be “payable at 15 percent of gross month-to-month earnings.”

In addition, with 3 years of monitored release to follow Welch’s jail sentence, he’ll be needed to supply his “probation officer with access to any asked for monetary details” and to look for authorization to acquire brand-new credit limit “unless he remains in compliance with the installation payment schedule,” per the legal file.

When it comes to this jail sentence, Welch, whose counsel had actually argued for 5 years’ probation and 6 months’ home arrest, was purchased to invest 8 months behind bars.

He reported to FCI Fort Dix (where Diddy is serving his own sentence) on Tuesday.

On Tuesday, the previously mentioned streaming fraudster Michael Smith was sentenced to 18 months in jail after pleading guilty to conspiracy to dedicate wire scams. The Billboard-charting artist should surrender over $8 million.

Various music-space criminal cases are getting relatively little attention. In 2015, one Hank Risan was charged with 4 counts of wire scams and implicated of swiping financier capital by supposedly making misstatements about “his supposed music streaming service,” BlueBeat.

Groundbreaking advancements have not emerged in the case to this point in 2026, a bail evaluation hearing is arranged for next week.

Independently, Pooh Shiesty (and extra accuseds, amongst them the rap artist’s daddy) has actually been implicated of kidnapping and robbing Gucci Mane and 2 other people in an effort to leave a record agreement. The case is tentatively arranged to head to trial in February 2027.