Ex-Michigan coach accused of hacking athletes’ data for ‘intimate’ photos, videos faces federal indictment
A former Michigan co-offensive coordinator accused of hacking the personal information of thousands of athletes and stealing "intimate" photos and videos over the course of nearly eight years was hit with a 24-count federal indictment on Thursday, prosecutors announced.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan announced the indictment more than two years after Matt Weiss, 42, was fired from his coaching position under former head coach Jim Harbaugh following an investigation into the alleged crimes.
"Our office will move aggressively to prosecute computer hacking to protect the private accounts of our citizens," Acting U.S. Attorney Julie Beck said in a statement. "We stand ready with our law enforcement partners to bring those who illegally invade the privacy of others to justice."
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Weiss is accused of committing the alleged crimes from 2015 to January 2023.
According to the indictment, Weiss "gained unauthorized access to student athlete databases of more than 100 colleges and universities that were maintained by a third-party vendor." He then allegedly downloaded personal information and data of more than 150,000 athletes and, from there, Weiss was able to access the information of more than 2,000 athletes, including access to their social media, email and cloud storage.
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Weiss is accused of using this information to download "personal, intimate digital photographs and videos that were never intended to be shared beyond intimate partners," prosecutors said.
"Today’s indictment of Matthew Weiss underscores the commitment and meticulous investigative efforts of our law enforcement professionals," FBI Special Agent Cheyvoryea Gibson said in a statement.
"The FBI Detroit Cyber Task Force, in close collaboration with the University of Michigan Police Department, worked relentlessly on this case to safeguard and protect our community."
Weiss is facing 14 counts of unauthorized access to computers and 10 counts of aggravated identity theft. He is facing a maximum of five years imprisonment for each of the unauthorized access charges and up to two years for each count of identity theft.
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