Loyola University Chicago sent preservation notice tied to federally indicted ex-Michigan coach

CHICAGO (WGN) — Following the federal indictment of former Michigan football assistant coach Matt Weiss on unauthorized computer access and identity theft charges, Loyola University Chicago is now being pulled into the legal fallout.

According to a spokesperson, attorneys Megan Bonanni and Lisa Esser-Weidenfeller sent a preservation notice to Loyola this week, compelling the school to preserve all relevant evidence—including emails, videos and any records involving personal data—belonging to student-athletes who attended the school from 2015 to 2020.

The preservation notice states Bonanni and Esser-Weidenfeller are representing a former Loyola student-athlete in a potential litigation lawsuit against the university concerning the 24 federal counts Weiss was indicted on.

Weiss, who worked for the Baltimore Ravens before joining the University of Michigan’s football staff in 2021, was charged with 14 counts of unauthorized computer access and 10 counts of identity theft in March.

According to the indictment, prosecutors allege Weiss hacked into thousands of student-athletes email accounts at colleges and universities around the country from 2015 to 2023, including one of the student-athlete represented by Bonanni and Esser-Weidenfeller, to access intimate photos and videos.

Weiss then gained access to social media, email and cloud storage accounts of more than 2,000 student-athletes, as well as more than 1,300 students or alumni from schools across the country, the indictment states.

Weiss was fired in 2023 when he was serving as Michigan’s co-offensive coordinator after failing to cooperate with the university’s investigation into his computer access.

---

*Reporting from the Associated Press contributed to this article.