Attorney says data hack case by ex-U-M coach of female athletes is just 'tip of the iceberg'
The Brief
The attorney for over 40 former female college athletes impacted by a data hack allegedly from an ex-Michigan coach held a press conference.
A former college softball player came forward to share her story about the data hack from which she says she was a victim of.
Attorney Jon Marko says the case's victims may grow into the thousands and says the University of Michigan never notified them of the breach.
FOX 2 - A hacked data breach lawsuit press conference against a former University of Michigan football coach, involving more than 40 women and expanding, was held Monday in an investigation the attorney compared to like peeling back layers of a rotten onion.
Big picture view
Matthew Weiss is facing a federal indictment for allegedly accessing potentially thousands of female athletes' personal information, private photos, social media, email, and cloud storage accounts, as early as 2015, before he worked at U of M. Authorities said he continued to do so until 2023.
"Like I said, this is the tip of the iceberg," said Attorney Jon Marko. "I think as we peel back the layers of this rotten onion that the University of Michigan has created, that we're going to discover that, that there's going to be different entanglements out there, that there's going to be additional, women and individuals."
Weiss is facing a lawsuit for allegedly hacking the accounts of numerous female athletes and accessing private photos. He was fired in 2023 after failing to cooperate with the university's investigation into the case, was recently charged with 24 federal counts, including unauthorized access to computers and aggravated identity theft.
There are more than 40 women involved in the lawsuit filed by Marko Law, also named the University of Michigan, the Regents of the University of Michigan, and Keffer Development Services, LLC.
Weiss allegedly obtained access without authorization to student athlete databases of more than a hundred colleges and universities. According to court documents Matt Weiss kept notes on individuals whose photos and videos that he looked at — comments on their bodies and sexual preferences.
Marko said the lawsuit is being amended to add more individuals.
"This affected not only our athletes here in Michigan and not only the Wolverines, but this affected women all over the country who've been exposed and had their data breached," he said. "When (the university) found out about it, they've done nothing in the past three years to try to notify these women."
Dig deeper
McKenzie Johnson, one of the former female athletes impacted, is being represented by Marko, and shared her story publicly as part of the lawsuit.
"Miss Johnson and others had to be notified by the Department of Justice that their data have been exposed and that there was a breach and that their most private, sensitive, intimate videos, data, and photos have been taken by a strange man and are now apparently on servers at the University of Michigan," Marko said.
Johnson said she now works professionally with a Fortune 500 company. From 2015 to 2019, she played softball at Grambling State University.
She said she recently learned that her private information was stolen by Weiss and that her personal email and social media accounts were hacked into, in 2022.
"I don't know yet what information was stolen, so I have a great deal of fear and uncertainty about this situation, honestly," she said. "The University of Michigan has never notified me about this privacy violation, so I had no opportunity to personally protect myself."
Marko said for the past three years there was no notification of the data breach for the women.
Related:
Hacking investigation: Ex-Michigan, Ravens coach had thousands of intimate images
Lawsuit filed against University of Michigan, Matt Weiss after allegations he hacked female athletes' accounts
"That would have been a nice time to tell these thousands, tens of thousands, potentially of people that their data could have been exposed and were sitting on servers and out there," he said.
Marko said that just because there is a criminal court case underway, it doesn't mean that the university doesn't still have civily responsibility.
"First of all, we have a lot of beef with U of M, so this was an employee of U of M," he said. "The university's responsible. They have an obligation to protect their students and others.
"A police investigation doesn't relieve the university for years of failing to protect the individuals who are subject to the data breach. So, the FBI has to do what the FBI has to do. The university has to do with the university should do, and they failed to do it in this case."
Marko Law and Hurwitz Law filed a temporary restraining order to place the personal data of those impacted in a "secure, trusted, neutral third party."
"We know that they seized Matthew Weiss's electronic devices, including that data," said Marko. "And so we need, confirmation, in order that, this will be disgorged and secured outside of the university. It should not be in the university's hands."
The University of Michigan issued this statement:
"While the federal indictment asserts that Matt Weiss improperly accessed online accounts of unsuspecting individuals between approximately 2015 and January 2023, Weiss was employed by the University of Michigan for less than 2 years, from February, 2021 to January, 2023.
"Count 23 of the indictment is specific to the University of Michigan and alleges that Weiss accessed protected UM computers without or in excess of authorization from December 21, 2022 to December 23, 2022.
"Upon learning of potentially concerning activity in its systems, the University promptly placed Mr. Weiss on leave, forwarded this matter to law enforcement authorities and moved forward with Mr. Weiss' termination on January 21, 2023."
The Source
Information for this report came from a press conference with attorney Jon Marko and previously reported details of the indictment and investigation.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles

Associated Press
37 minutes ago
- Associated Press
No new trials for Michigan school shooter's parents despite violation by prosecutors, judge rules
DETROIT (AP) — A judge on Wednesday denied requests for new trials by the parents of a Michigan school shooter, despite finding that prosecutors had committed a violation by failing to disclose agreements with two important witnesses. Setting aside the involuntary manslaughter convictions of James and Jennifer Crumbley and starting over would be too severe, Oakland County Judge Cheryl Matthews said. 'The court would effectively be ignoring the impact of dozens of hours of testimony, postulating a basis for the jury verdict, dismissing a plethora of other evidence suggesting guilt, and impermissibly speculating about what 'might have happened,' ' Matthews said. The Crumbleys are serving 10-year prison sentences. They didn't know their son had planned to commit a mass shooting at Oxford High School in 2021. But they were accused of failing to lock a gun at home and ignoring Ethan Crumbley's mental health needs. Four students were killed. The parents didn't take Ethan home on the day of the shooting when they were confronted with his macabre drawing of a gun, blood and dark messages. School administrator Nick Ejak and counselor Shawn Hopkins testified about that meeting. But unknown to jurors and defense lawyers: The men earlier had given interviews to investigators with the promise that their words would not be used against them. They were never charged. Lawyers for the Crumbleys argued that producing those agreements was a fundamental obligation of prosecutors. They said trial attorneys would have further tried to cast doubt on the credibility of Ejak and Hopkins during cross-examination. 'The lack of disclosure ... is in itself disturbing,' the judge acknowledged. Prosecutor Karen McDonald's team had argued that the deals weren't immunity agreements and didn't need to be shared. Jennifer Crumbley's appellate lawyer said the fight will continue in higher courts. 'So the prosecution intentionally cheated and violated the court rules, but they didn't cheat hard enough for the court to do anything about it,' Michael Dezsi said. Ethan Crumbley is serving a life prison sentence. Crumbley, now 19, is serving a life prison sentence. His parents, James and Jennifer Crumbley, are each serving 10-year sentences for involuntary manslaughter. Prosecutors said they had ignored his mental health needs, bought him a gun as a gift and then failed to safely secure it.


CBS News
37 minutes ago
- CBS News
FBI assisting in investigation of two bodies found at Michigan's Isle Royale National Park
The FBI confirmed that it is assisting in an investigation after the bodies of two unidentified campers were found on Monday at Michigan's Isle Royale National Park. Federal investigators say they routinely assist in investigations if requested, but this does not mean they will open an investigation. "FBI policy prohibits the confirmation of the existence of investigations, the release of information on investigations and any public report on the closing on an investigation," the agency said in a statement. Authorities say that at about 4 p.m. on June 8, two park rangers responded to reports of two people dead at a remote campground within the park. After hiking 11 miles to the campground, the rangers found the two people on Monday. Additional ground and aviation resources responded to the scene. The cause of death is unknown.


CBS News
2 hours ago
- CBS News
Michigan judge denies James and Jennifer Crumbley's requests for new trials
A Michigan judge on Wednesday denied requests for new trials for James and Jennifer Crumbley, parents of the Oxford High School shooter. Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Cheryl Matthews upheld their convictions, specifically ruling that "Jennifer Crumbley received a trial and verdict worthy of confidence based on the cumulative effect of the significant evidence against her." A jury convicted the Crumbleys of four counts of involuntary manslaughter in 2024. Their son, Ethan Crumbley, is serving a life sentence after her pleaded guilty to multiple charges in connection with the deadly shooting on Nov. 30, 2021, that killed four people and wounded seven others. In the months following their convictions, the couple retained attorneys to file appeals. They argued that they did not receive a fair trial and that the Oakland County Prosecutor's Office offered secret deals to two school officials who testified at their trials. Prosecutor Karen McDonald issued the following statement on Wednesday: "Today Judge Cheryl Matthews' upheld the guilty verdicts of James and Jennifer Crumbley and denied their requests for new trials. These cases have always been about just one thing: justice for Madisyn Baldwin, Tate Myre, Hana St. Juliana, Justin Shilling and the other Oxford victims. Judge Matthews' ruling makes clear that no issue raised by the defense affected the trial or the jury's verdict. "Now that the juries' verdicts have been reviewed and upheld, it is time to turn our attention away from the Crumbleys and refocus on the Oxford victims. The bottom line is both James and Jennifer Crumbley were convicted by juries of their peers after receiving a fair trial."