Joshua Streit, a man from Minnesota, was charged on Thursday for trying to extort $150,000 from the MLB as he illegally streamed copyrighted content from major professional sports leagues online.
30-year-old Streit from St. Louis Park, Minnesota, was charged with extortion, accessing a protected computer to commit fraud for personal gain, wire fraud, and illicit digital transmission in a criminal complaint filed in Manhattan federal court.
It was not immediately clear who will represent him at an initial appearance in federal court in Minnesota.
According to Federal authorities, Streit hacked into the computer systems of major professional sports leagues in the United States like the MLB, NBA, NFL, and NHL and streamed copyrighted live games. He then allegedly tried to extort $150,000 from the MLB, threatening the baseball league that he will publicise alleged vulnerabilities in MLB’s internet infrastructure.
Authorities said Streit used login credentials from legitimate users of sports league websites to gain access to live feeds which he then streamed over a website he operated.
Michael J Driscoll, head of New York’s FBI office, said that Streit — also known as Josh Brody — “hacked into the systems of several of our country’s biggest professional sports leagues and illegally streamed copyrighted live games,” the Associated Press reported.
“Instead of quitting while he was ahead, he allegedly decided to continue the game by extorting one of the leagues, threatening to expose the very vulnerability he used to hack them,” Driscoll said.
He added: “The puns write themselves in this investigation, and now instead of scoring a payday, Mr. Brody faces a federal prison sentence as a penalty.”
US Attorney Damian Williams said all four sports leagues had aided the investigation into Streit’s activities, which stretched from 2017 until August, with one of the leagues claiming it lost about $3 million from the streaming.
“Streit has struck out on his illegal streaming and extortion scheme,” Williams said.
(With AP inputs)
