Fired Michigan assistant accused of hacking female students’ computers faces legal setback amid Moore scandal
The legal issues continued this week for fired Michigan football coaches as federal prosecutors now claim to have photographic evidence in their hacking case against ex-Wolverines assistant Matt Weiss.
In March, Weiss was charged with hacking and identify theft for allegedly stealing thousands of private, intimate images from student athletes, mostly women, at more than 100 universities nationwide. Weiss has pleaded not guilty to all 24 charges and recently pushed for some charges to be dismissed.
The Justice Department is fighting Weiss’ attempts to dismiss the charges and has now submitted photos allegedly showing Weiss moments before hacking into University of Michigan computers in December of 2022, according to filings obtained by the Daily Mail. He was fired weeks after Michigan’s Fiesta Bowl loss to Texas Christian.
The Wolverines would win a national championship under head coach Jim Harbaugh the following season amid a separate, unrelated sign-stealing scandal. Harbaugh would leave for the NFL’s Los Angeles Chargers in 2024 as offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore was promoted to head coach.
Moore was fired in Ann Abor earlier this month for an allegedly inappropriate relationship with a staffer. The married father of three has since been charged with breaking and entering, home invasion and stalking for allegedly entering a woman’s apartment, terrorizing her and threatening to harm himself in the aftermath of his dismissal.
Now lead by interim coach Biff Poggi, the 9-3 Wolverines will face No. Texas in the Citrus Bowl on New Year’s Eve.
Weiss (left) is seen coaching alongside Moore (right) when they both worked under Harbaugh
Former football coach Matt Weiss pleaded not guilty in a Detroit federal court in March
Weiss, who coached quarterbacks at Michigan after serving under Harbaugh’s brother John with the Baltimore Ravens, could face up to five years in prison if convicted on all counts.
His legal team moved to dismiss many of the charges in recent months by claiming the warrants from school police did not properly specify what could be searched. His attorneys argued in two separate court filings obtained by the Daily Mail that the searches violated Weiss’ fourth-amendment rights.
Weiss is also being sued by more than 70 women over the alleged hacks.
The Athletic was the first to report the prosecutor’s submission of the security photos.
Weiss allegedly gained access to the databases of more than 100 colleges and universities that were maintained by a third-party vendor, Keffer Development Services, and then downloaded personal information and medical data of more than 150,000 athletes, the indictment states.
The 14-page indictment portrays him as a computer whiz, saying Weiss ‘cracked the encryption protecting the passwords, assisted by research that he did on the internet.’
He then got access to the social media, email and cloud storage accounts of more than 2,000 athletes as well as more than 1,300 students or alumni from schools across the country, according to the indictment.
‘Weiss primarily targeted female college athletes,’ the indictment said.
‘He researched and targeted these women based on their school affiliation, athletic history and physical characteristics. His goal was to obtain private photographs and videos never intended to be shared beyond intimate partners.’
Weiss kept notes on photos and videos that he downloaded, commenting on the bodies and sexual preferences and sometimes returning years later to look for new images, the indictment said.
‘Our office will move aggressively to prosecute computer hacking to protect the private accounts of our citizens,’ Julie Beck, the acting U.S. attorney in Detroit, said of the charges.
