A former NFL and university football coach was charged in a 24-count indictment after allegedly accessing the digital accounts of 3,300 students to download their intimate photos and videos.
Matt Weiss, 42, is facing 14 counts of unauthorized access to computers and 10 counts of aggravated identity theft, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan said Thursday.
Weiss worked as co-offensive coordinator for the University of Michigan until he was fired in January 2023 over allegations he gained unauthorized access to other people’s computer accounts.
According to the indictment, Weiss accessed a database managed by a third-party that had information on student-athletes from than 100 colleges and universities across the country. He allegedly did so “through compromising the passwords” of staff with elevated access to the database.
“After gaining access to these databases, Weiss downloaded the personally identifiable information (PII) and medical data of more than 150,000 athletes,” the indictment said.
Weiss cracked the encryption protecting the athletes’ passwords and conducted further research to “obtain personal information such as their mothers’ maiden names, pets, places of birth, and nicknames,” according to the indictment.
Using all of that information, Weiss either reset or guessed the passwords of 2,000 students, the indictment said. He allegedly targeted the social media, email and cloud storage accounts of female student-athletes.
“Once he obtained access to the accounts of targeted athletes, Weiss searched for and downloaded personal, intimate photographs and videos that were not publicly shared,” the indictment said.
Weiss was additionally able to access the private accounts of 1,300 students or alumni from students and alumni that attended institutions around the country, according to the indictment.
“In at least several instances, Weiss exploited vulnerabilities in universities’ account authentication processes to gain access to the accounts of students or alumni,” the indictment said.
Federal court records do not list an attorney for Weiss and it is unclear if he is in federal custody. A call to a phone number listed for Weiss was not immediately returned to NBC News on Thursday.
The University of Michigan declined to comment on the charges, referring questions to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Each charge of unauthorized access to computers has a maximum of five years in federal prison. Conviction on an aggravated identity theft charge comes with a two-year mandatory minimum sentence.
Weiss was hired at the University of Michigan in 2021 after 12 seasons as an assistant coach with the Baltimore Ravens, according to his university biography. Before that, he worked at Stanford University.
Jim Harbaugh, who now coaches the Los Angeles Charges, was head football coach at both Stanford and Michigan when Weiss worked there. His brother, John, has been head coach of the Ravens since 2008 and would have also worked with Weiss.
