Over a dozen women have sued the University of Michigan and former football assistant Matt Weiss after he was charged with hacking into accounts of female college athletes across the country to access their photos and videos.
Eleven women filed a federal class action lawsuit against the school and Weiss on Wednesday. According to the Detroit News, that brings the number of women who have filed suits so far to 17.
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday, against Weiss, the University of Michigan, the Board of Regents and database manager Keffer Development Services, involves 10 former student-athletes at UM, including two gymnasts, seven soccer players and a cheerleader, and one former volleyball player at the University of Maryland and Loyola University Chicago.
Federal prosecutors brought 24 charges against Weiss in March for alleged computer hacking and unauthorized access. Weiss, a former Michigan co-offensive coordinator, was fired in January of 2023 as the investigation into his actions began. He had been on leave after a report of “computer access crimes” from the Schembechler Hall football facility in December of 2022.
Prosecutors said that Weiss’ hacking into athletes accounts dated back to 2015 and his time as an assistant with the Baltimore Ravens, where he worked under former Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh’s brother John. Weiss is accused of first hacking into the Keffer Development Services database, a site where college athletes’ medical data is stored. Keffer is also named in the suit.
From there, Weiss is accused of downloading the athletes’ passwords from the database and using that information to piece together their passwords for other personal cloud and social media accounts where “intimate digital photographs and videos” would be held.
Weiss was Michigan’s co-offensive coordinator for the 2022 season after he was the team’s quarterbacks coach in 2021. Before Michigan, he was with the Ravens for over a decade.
