A former student-athlete at a local university is one of the alleged victims of the ex-Michigan coach accused of hacking into the accounts of thousands of college athletes.
The ex-track and field athlete at Simmons University, who still lives in the Boston-area, has reportedly received a notice from the U.S. Department of Justice that her private information was breached by former University of Michigan and Baltimore Ravens assistant football coach Matthew Weiss.
He was recently indicted on 24 counts of unauthorized access and aggravated identity theft of student athlete information, as the feds allege that he gained unauthorized access to student-athlete databases of more than 100 schools. Weiss is accused of illegally accessing thousands of intimate photos and videos.
The former Simmons athlete’s electronically stored information was housed and protected by the Simmons University database.
Her lawyers are now calling on Simmons to preserve all relevant evidence — including emails, videos, and any records involving personal data belonging to student-athletes.
“This firm represents a former student athlete Jane Doe who attended the University from 2012 to 2016 in a potential litigation lawsuit against the Simmons University and related to former University of Michigan football coach Matt Weiss,” her attorneys Megan Bonanni (Pitt McGehee Palmer Bonanni & Rivers) and Lisa Esser-Weidenfeller (Sommers Schwartz) wrote in a preservation notice to Simmons.
The notice is to compel the school to preserve evidence related to student-athletes who attended Simmons between 2012 to 2016.
Such data includes: video, photographic and digital recordings; emails; texts; student-athlete files; medical files; investigatory files; and more.
Her lawyers recently filed a class-action lawsuit in federal court against Weiss and the University of Michigan.
“It is the responsibility of the University to ensure the preservation of all evidence that existed prior to the initiation of a lawsuit and any evidence that has been acquired subsequent to the filing of the lawsuit,” the lawyers wrote to Simmons.
“Preservation includes taking all reasonable steps to prevent the partial or full destruction, alteration, deletion, incineration, wiping, relocation, theft or mutilation of potential evidence as well as negligent or intentional handling that would make the material incomplete or inaccessible,” the attorneys added. “Preservation also includes discontinuing all routine data destruction and backup recycling policies.”
A spokesperson for Simmons did not immediately respond to comment on Thursday.
The attorneys represent multiple former athletes who believe Weiss may have illegally accessed their personal materials. At least five federal lawsuits have now been filed across the country in connection with the allegations, with more expected.
In addition to Simmons, the lawyers said it’s highly likely that other student-athletes from New England schools have been affected by the hack.
“Any student-athlete from 2015 to 2023 is at risk of having had their personal and private information compromised,” said Bonanni, one of the attorneys for the ex-Simmons student.
“These student-athletes feel betrayed,” the lawyer added. “They had the expectation that their private information would be guarded by their institution, and it wasn’t… Clearly there was not appropriate monitoring.”
According to the feds, Weiss between 2015 and 2023 allegedly gained unauthorized access to student-athlete databases of more than 100 colleges and universities that were maintained by a third-party vendor. Weiss allegedly downloaded the personally identifiable information and medical data of more than 150,000 athletes.
He’s accused of obtaining access to the social media, email, and/or cloud storage accounts of more than 2,000 target athletes. Weiss also illegally obtained access to the social media, email, and/or cloud storage accounts of more than 1,300 additional students and/or alumni from universities across the country.
He allegedly downloaded personal, intimate digital photographs and videos that were never intended to be shared beyond intimate partners.
The Department of Justice has been sending out boilerplate notices about the data breach to former student-athletes, and the attorneys are concerned that many victims are ignoring the notes. The lawyers are urging people to check their email for such notices.
“Many schools still haven’t alerted students and alumni,” Bonanni said. “It’s a slap in the face to their student-athletes who have given so much to their programs.”