Michael Brantley #23 of the Houston Astros hits an RBI single against the Atlanta Braves during the second inning in Game Two of the World Series at Minute Maid Park on October 27, 2021 in Houston, Texas.
Bob Levey | Getty Images
Federal investigators accused a Minnesota man of trying to shake down Major League Baseball for $150,000 after he hacked into the organization’s computer system.
Authorities also charged the man, Joshua Streit, with illegally streaming content from the nation’s biggest pro sports leagues for profit.
The man, Joshua Streit, is accused of operating a website that illegally offered paying subscribers copyrighted content from the MLB, the National Football League, the National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League from 2017 through this past August, federal authorities announced Thursday.
Streit obtained the games and other content by misappropriating login credentials from legitimate users of the league’s streaming websites, according to a criminal complaint.
“One of the victim sports leagues sustained losses of approximately $3 million due to Streit’s conduct,” according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney Office for Manhattan, which is prosecuting him.
The 30-year-old Streit, who is also known as Joshua Brody, is also accused of attempting to extort MLB this year after allegedly hacking into the league’s computer systems and then threatening to publicly expose the vulnerability he had exploited in the hack.
“Streit initiated the extortion scheme at the same time that he was exploiting MLB’s computer systems to gain unauthorized access to copyright content that he streamed for profit,” the press release said.
Streit, who lives in St. Louis Park, Minn., faces five criminal counts, including wire fraud, accessing a protected computer, illicit digital transmission, and sending interstate threats.
