University of Arkansas, Razorbacks athletics drug into sexual content scandal

Lawsuit alleges university may bear some responsibility for explicit photos, videos getting hacked

Michigan Wolverines quarterbacks coach Matt Weiss against the Iowa Hawkeyes in the Big Ten Conference championship game at Lucas Oil Stadium. / Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark., — On Tuesday reports began to surface that the University of Arkansas and its athletics program had been pulled into a lawsuit involving sexual content as part of a hacking scheme allegedly perpetrated by former Michigan coach Matt Weiss.

Back in March, an FBI investigation led to an indictment of Weiss for computer crimes that came about after a report of suspicious activity on a computer at Schembechler Hall, a facility at Michigan dedicated to the football program. The charges allege the Wolverines offensive coordinator, who was fired in January of 2023 as part of multiple scandals that tainted the final two years of former coach Jim Harbaugh's tenure at the university, was able to use a third party database maintained by Keffer Development Services to access the accounts of athletics directors and trainers.

This allegedly provided access to medical data and personal information of over 150,000 athletes. The information he downloaded also provided encrypted passwords and direct access to personal e-mail and social media accounts.

However, this activity didn't begin at Michigan. According to a legal notice provided by the attorneys of multiple Jane Does who are former Razorback athletes, this goes all the way back to Weiss' time with the Baltimore Ravens of the NFl where he worked for Jim Harbaugh's brother John for 11 years. Between 2011 and 2019, Weiss reportedly found access to intimate personal photos and videos of numerous female athletes, including those at Arkansas.

According to the affidavit, Weis "targeted these women based on their school affiliation, athletic history, and physical characteristics. His goal was to obtain private photographs and videos never intended to be shared beyond intimate partners." 

During in an interview with 5News in Northwest Arkansas, Meagan Bonanni , an equity partner with the firm that sent a letter to the University of Arkansas on the athletes' behalf requesting they preserve any and all digital information that could be considered evidence, there was "a lack of security protocol" in place at Arkansas to protect the alleged victims, potentially opening up the university to some level of accountability in this matter.

"Our clients are feeling so betrayed by their school because this is personal, private information that was supposed to be kept safe, and there was a failure there," Bonanni said in the interview.

According to the indictment, Weis “kept notes on individuals whose photographs and videos he viewed, including notes commenting on their bodies and sexual preferences.”

"Thousands of candid, intimate photographs and videos have been seized from the defendant's electronic devices and from his cloud storage accounts," the Justice Department's Mega Victim Case Assistance Program said as part of a government e-mail released by lawyers of additional victims earlier this month. "Many show victims naked. Some show victims engaged in explicit sexual acts,"

As the weeks roll by, the number of women involved in this data breach is expected to expand. As more information gathered from the investigation comes to light, more lawsuits with additional details have been filed.

"Like I said, this is the tip of the iceberg," Attorney Jon Marko, attorney for at least 40 victims, told Fox 2 in Detroit. "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."

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