In a decisive move by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, Judge Nancy Edmunds has ruled against former University of Michigan assistant football coach Matt Weiss. Edmunds denied Weiss's attempt to dismiss ten charges of aggravated identity theft, which he faces, in connection with allegations of hacking the personal accounts of a substantial number of student athletes. His legal battles are reported in-depth by various media sources, including The Detroit News, Detroit Free Press, and MLive.
Accused of accessing more than 3,300 accounts of primarily female college athletes, Weiss is charged with 14 counts of unauthorized access to a computer and 10 counts of aggravated identity theft. His attorneys argued, these charges were an "untested theory" and "government overreach," suggesting that Weiss's alleged actions were akin to using a stolen key to gain physical access, not akin to identity theft. "A computer trespasser does not steal the identity of an account holder using a stolen or guessed password to access a computer server," Weiss's attorneys wrote in their motion to dismiss, as obtained by The Detroit News. The motion faced rejection as Judge Edmunds found the aggravated identity theft statute’s use proper.
Furthermore, according to the Detroit Free Press, the court's decision emanated from the interpretation of the evidence presented, which suggested that Weiss's alleged use of each victim's credentials was integral to the computer crime.
Weiss's legal team also contended that the login identifiers were merely "virtual keys used to unlock virtual doors," and the charges effectively double-penalize the alleged computer trespass. This stance, however, did not sway Edmunds, who, as the Detroit News highlighted, found legitimacy in the prosecutors' charge application. If convicted, Weiss faces significant prison sentences, up to five years for each computer charge, and two years for each identity theft charge.
Amid his legal turmoil, Weiss has also been implicated in civil lawsuits, with more than 90 female student athletes represented by various attorneys seeking damages. These legal actions stem from his indictment and the contentions that he hacked and stole personal and intimate photos and videos. The breadth of the allegations covers Weiss’s tenure not only at the University of Michigan but also during his prior role with the Baltimore Ravens, as noted by MLive. Weiss's career, which saw him climb the ranks to co-offensive coordinator at Michigan, was abruptly halted with his firing two years ago. With the federal and civil cases ongoing, Weiss remains ensnared in controversies that threaten to overshadow his years in football coaching.
