Joshua Streit, also known as Joshua Brody, has been sentenced to three years in prison for running a website on which he illegally streamed games from various major sports leagues, and then attempted to extort said leagues out of even more money.
Streit had been accused of illegally streaming the games between 2017 and 2021, the year he was arrested, by hacking into the leagues’ systems. According to the criminal filing, Streit hacked into Major League Baseball’s network and began communicating with employees from the league. “Streit claimed he knew MLB reporters who were ‘interested in the story,’ and stated that it would be bad if the vulnerability were exposed and MLB was embarrassed.”
Streit has been charged with illegally distributing content NBA, NHL, NFL, and MLB, with the intent to profit, and accuses that he caused those leagues a loss of over $3 million.
Upon his arrest, FBI Assistant Director Michael J. Driscol stated in a Department of Justice press release, “We allege Mr. Brody hacked into the systems of several of our country’s biggest professional sports leagues and illegally streamed copyrighted live games.”
“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. Now instead of scoring a payday, Mr. Brody faces the possibility of a federal prison sentence as a penalty.”
