Univ. Of Michigan Football
Ex-Coach Matt Weiss …
Accused Of Hacking Athletes’ Intimate Photos
Published
Matt Weiss — a former assistant coach for the University of Michigan football team — is now facing multiple criminal charges … over allegations he downloaded intimate photos from hundreds of athletes’ internet accounts after illegally hacking into them.
Federal prosecutors made the allegations in an indictment filed in Michigan on Thursday. They alleged Weiss gained access to over 3,300 accounts — most belonging to female college athletes — with the goal of obtaining “private photographs and videos never intended to be shared beyond intimate partners.”
The feds wrote in the court filing that Weiss began committing the crimes around 2015 — when he was an assistant on John Harbaugh‘s Baltimore Ravens staff — and continued them all the way until 2023, when he was working at UM for John’s brother, Jim Harbaugh.
Prosecutors accused Weiss of running a fairly elaborate scheme to get into the athletes’ accounts … claiming the 42-year-old would use databases and info that “appeared to be leaked from data breaches” to gain access.
They stated, too, that he “kept notes on individuals whose photographs and videos that he viewed, including notes commenting on their bodies and their sexual preferences.”
Weiss is now charged with 10 counts of identity theft and 14 counts of unauthorized computer access over the claims.
“Our office will move aggressively to prosecute computer hacking to protect the private accounts of our citizens,” acting U.S. attorney in Detroit, Julie Beck, told The Associated Press on Thursday.
Weiss played football at Vanderbilt from 2001-2003 … and got into coaching immediately after his career on the gridiron ended. In addition to his stops in Baltimore and Michigan, he also worked for Stanford.
Weiss was ultimately fired from his Wolverines gig in January 2023, after cops searched his Ann Arbor home. At the time of the police probe, he stated he would fully cooperate with authorities and had hoped for a resolution to everything.
