Former Michigan coach Matthew Weiss fights identity theft charges in stolen photos case

The former NFL and college football coach accused of stealing the private, intimate images of student-athletes is fighting to have some of the charges dropped, alleging that federal prosecutors are trying to “turbocharge” a hacking case.

An attorney for the former coach, Matthew Weiss, moved to dismiss 10 charges of aggravated identity theft in a motion filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. A federal grand jury indicted Weiss in March on 24 charges — 14 counts of unauthorized access to computers and 10 counts of aggravated identity theft.

He pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Weiss was hired at the University of Michigan in 2021 after 12 seasons as an assistant coach with the Baltimore Ravens. He was terminated in January 2023 after allegations emerged that he gained unauthorized access to other people’s computer accounts.

He is accused of accessing personal identifying information about student-athletes from more than 100 colleges and universities across the country. Federal prosecutors alleged that he used that information to access digital accounts to download intimate photos and videos.

Weiss accessed more than 3,000 accounts, mostly targeting female student-athletes, federal prosecutors said in the indictment from March.

This week’s motion by his attorney, David Benowitz, said the government’s allegations did not substantiate aggravated identity theft charges.

“Hacking is hacking, not identity theft,” the motion said.

In the motion, Benowitz notes that the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act criminalizes unauthorized digital access to computers as a misdemeanor. That can be enhanced into a felony if it is used in furtherance of another crime.

Benowitz’s motion says the allegations, if proven true, do not meet the aggravated identity theft enhancement.

The motion says that the allegations are a case of “digital trespassing” and that the means of identification were used to unlock a metaphorical door rather than to engage in deceit.

“A physical key is a unique means of identification that only the homeowner is supposed to have,” the motion said. “But even so, inserting the key and unlocking the door does not steal the homeowner’s identity.”

The motion accused the government of being unsatisfied with the existing computer trespassing laws and argued that prosecutors are trying to “bootstrap computer trespass into ‘aggravated identity theft.’”

“If its gambit succeeds, computer hacking that ordinarily leads to probation will be transformed into an offense with a two-year mandatory minimum sentence of incarceration for each act of hacking—up to 20 years total,” the motion said.

Benowitz did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The public information officer at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan is furloughed because of the government shutdown, according to an auto-response email. A prosecutor in Weiss’ case did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the motion.