Ex-Michigan and Ravens Coach Pleads Not Guilty in Hacking Case

A former assistant football coach for the University of Michigan and the Baltimore Ravens pleaded not guilty Monday to charges of illegally accessing the computer accounts of thousands of college athletes in search of private images, primarily of women.

Matt Weiss made a brief appearance in federal court in Detroit, just days after a 14-page indictment was filed against him. He faces allegations of unauthorized computer access and identity theft, spanning from 2015 to early 2023.

Weiss and his attorney, Douglas Mullkoff, waived a public reading of the charges and declined to comment while leaving the courthouse in cold, windy conditions.

Meanwhile, a lawsuit seeking class-action status was filed Friday on behalf of a former University of Michigan female gymnast and a former women’s soccer team member.

The lawsuit alleges the university failed in its duty to supervise and monitor Weiss, resulting in “illegal invasion of privacy” for the plaintiffs and thousands of others, attorney Parker Stinar stated. The University of Michigan has not commented on the case.

According to the indictment, Weiss accessed databases from over 100 colleges and universities maintained by the third-party vendor Keffer Development Services. He allegedly downloaded personal and medical information of more than 150,000 athletes.

Further, the indictment states that Weiss infiltrated the social media, email, and cloud storage accounts of more than 2,000 athletes, as well as 1,300 students and alumni from various institutions nationwide.

“His objective was to obtain private photographs and videos never intended to be shared beyond intimate partners,” the indictment alleges.

Weiss spent two seasons with the University of Michigan, serving as co-offensive coordinator in 2022 when the Wolverines finished 13-1 and made the college football playoff. He was dismissed in 2023 for failing to cooperate with a university investigation. Before his time in Michigan, Weiss held multiple coaching positions over a decade with the Baltimore Ravens.

Ex-Ravens Coach Pleads Not Guilty In $15M Hacking and Identity Theft Case  was originally published on r1wolbbaltimore.staging.go.ione.nyc