Ex-Michigan football assistant pleads not guilty to cyber fraud

DETROIT — Matthew Weiss, a former University of Michigan and Baltimore Ravens assistant coach, pleaded not guilty in federal court Monday on 24 counts of unauthorized access to computers and aggravated identity theft.

Prosecutors allege that Weiss ran a vast, multiyear effort to access the personal accounts of thousands of NCAA student-athletes, generally targeting specific female athletes to access personal and intimate photographs and videos. The 42-year-old, married father of three is facing dozens of years in prison and millions in fines.

On Monday, he was released on a $10,000 unsecured bond. He was additionally ordered to turn over his passport and allow officials to install software on his computers to monitor internet use. Judge Elizabeth Stafford also prohibited him from possessing any personal information for anyone other than himself.

Weiss, clad in a dark suit and a blue tie, stood by his attorney’s side and clearly answered multiple questions from Stafford at a quiet early-afternoon hearing downtown, about 40 miles from the roars of Michigan Stadium, where he once worked.

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Weiss and his attorney, Douglas Mullkoff, declined comment after the arraignment.

Weiss’ actions, prosecutors allege, date back to 2015 when he worked on the staff of the Ravens and head coach John Harbaugh. It continued, they say, when he moved in 2021 to a position as quarterbacks coach at Michigan, coached by John’s brother, Jim.

The university fired Weiss in January 2023 after a school investigation revealed he had “inappropriately accessed” computer accounts from Dec. 21-23, 2022, while inside Schembechler Hall — home to the Wolverines football offices. The university has declined further comment.

Weiss and Michigan were hit with a civil suit Monday from two former Wolverines athletes — a gymnast and a women’s soccer player — for the alleged violations. The school was accused of failing to supervise and monitor Weiss. Also named in the lawsuit is Keffer Development Services, which keeps the medical data of student-athletes at approximately 100 schools; a database Weiss first accessed.

Weiss was once considered a rising star in the coaching profession. A former punter at Vanderbilt, he had first worked for Jim Harbaugh as a graduate assistant at Stanford from 2005 to 2008 before joining John Harbaugh’s staff with the NFL’s Ravens for the next dozen years.

By 2022, he had returned to Jim’s side and was the co-offensive coordinator for a Wolverines team that won the Big Ten and reached the College Football Playoff.

Starting in 2015, however, prosecutors allege he began illegally accessing some 150,000 athlete accounts held on the Keffer system, often by using elevated access levels afforded to trainers and athletic directors.

Weiss then, the indictment reads, assisted by online research, cracked Keffer’s encrypted password protections of some athletes.

Using that information, prosecutors allege, Weiss began using open-source records to ascertain personal information of specific athletes such as “mother’s maiden name, pets, places of birth and nicknames.” That allowed Weiss “to obtain access to the social media, email, and/or cloud storage accounts of more than 2,000 targeted athletes by guessing or resetting their passwords,” according to the indictment.

“Once he obtained access … Weiss searched for and downloaded personal, intimate photographs that were not publicly shared,” the indictment read.

Weiss is also charged with obtaining similar access, for similar purposes, of an additional 1,300 students and/or alumni from schools across the country.

Weiss, prosecutors allege, did extensive research and kept detailed notes on the athletes he was targeting, basing it on “their school affiliation, athletic history, and physical characteristics.” After viewing photos and videos, he kept notes on whose materials he had seen, including comments on “their bodies and their sexual preferences.”

His actions, the indictment says, took place over years, including repeatedly returning to certain accounts for “additional photos and videos.”

The case could prove far-reaching with potentially thousands of victims at numerous schools.

Weiss is facing five years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each of 14 separate charges and an additional two years of imprisonment on 10 additional charges.