The BBC has reported the arrest of two men in the U.K. who allegedly hacked into Michael Jackson‘s entire back catalog.
In 2010, Sony purchased the rights to the music from the Jackson estate for $250 million in hopes to release the material through 10 projects over seven years. The unreleased and in-process tracks came from the late pop star’s recordings of Thriller, Bad and Off the Wall.
James Marks, 26, and James McCormick, 25, were reportedly apprehended last spring for downloading thousands of digital files, worth an estimated $160 million. Sony kept quiet on the matter, until now.
The pair have been released on bail, with a trial set for January 2013.
Several of the tracks are said to have features from the late Freddie Mercury and Black Eyed Peas star will.i.am. There is no indication if any of the songs have been circulated around the web.
Not only have Marks and McCormick compromised the deal between the Jackson estate and Sony, but they have also exposed unreleased music from Jimi Hendrix, Paul Simon, the Foo Fighters and Avril Lavigne. It is not clear if other artists were affected during the process.
Last April, Sony’s PlayStation Network suffered a hack that opened up the personal details of more than 70 million users. It is estimated that the theft of Jackson’s files happened shortly after.