Ex-Michigan coach hacking case: Judge rules to dismiss some evidence

FOX 2 - Embattled ex-University of Michigan football coach Matthew Weiss secured at least a partial victory in court on Wednesday.

Big picture view:

A district court judge tossed some of the evidence against him, accused of hacking accounts to steal photos and videos of thousands of potential athletes, mostly women.

Weiss was charged in federal court on 24 counts including unauthorized access to computers and aggravated identity theft in March of 2025.

"The defendant’s motion to suppress the evidence from the search of the devices will be granted," Judge David M. Lawson said in his opinion. "And his motion to suppress the information obtained from the iCloud account will be denied."

Lawson ruled that Weiss' Fourth Amendment regarding unlawful search and seizures "particularity requirement" in the evidence taken from the search of his devices was not met.

But he said that Weiss' iCloud account evidence can be used in the case, denying the former coach's attempt to block it.

"The materials obtained from certain computers, tablets, and smart phones, identified below, will not be allowed into evidence," Lawson said in his opinion.  "Weiss also moves to suppress evidence obtained from a warranted search of an iCloud account, but the evidence obtained from  that source passes constitutional muster."

The backstory:

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.

According to the indictment, Weiss began accessing information – including social media, email, or cloud storage accounts – as early as 2015. Authorities said he continued to do so until 2023 when he was removed from his role with the university.

The indictment said the QB coach targeted female college athletes and researched their school affiliation, athletic history, and physical characteristics with a goal to get pictures and videos not meant to be released to the public. The indictment said Weiss would keep notes on the athletes – including comments on their bodies and sexual preferences.

The indictment says he got access to over 100 colleges and universities through Keffer Development Services – a third-party vendor – by compromising the passwords of accounts for trainers and athletic directors.

He's accused of downloading personally identifiable information on more than 150,000 athletes.

Weiss also downloaded passwords of athletes to access the system, the indictment said. These passwords were protected with encryption, which he was allegedly able to crack from research online. Once in their accounts, prosecutors said he downloaded intimate photos and videos. 

Additionally, Weiss is accused of exploiting the school's authentication process to get access to accounts of roughly alumni of universities throughout the country. 

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.