A Minnesota man is facing five criminal charges after trying to extort the Major League Baseball organization out of $150,000. U.S. Attorney of the Southern District of New York, Damien Williams, announced last week that along with the extortion attempt, Joshua Streit, 30, also known as Josh Brody, allegedly “illegally streamed sports content online from MLB, the NHL, the NBA, and the NFL for his own personal profit.”

Streit is accused of hacking into the computer systems of the MLB and then blackmailing the league for $150,000. Authorities explained that Streit threatened to release documents that revealed how he was able to hack their system unless they paid up the ransom. Emails obtained by authorities show Streit in communication with an MLB executive threatening release of the documents.

Authorities also allege that Streit profited off of illegally streaming live games broadcast by the MLB, the National Basketball Association, the National Hockey League, and the National Football League. Streit allegedly used stolen login credentials to access the live-streamed games. After Streit gained access, he would then stream the games on his own website to his own customers. Authorities allege that Streit began profiting off his illegal streaming service on or about 2017. The scheme ran until about August 2021. It’s estimated that Streit caused the league an estimated $3 million in losses.

"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," The head of New York’s FBI office, Michael J Driscoll, shared. 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."

Media and Entertainment analyst company, MUSO, explains that illegal streaming will only continue to rise as the sports industry continues to boom. According to piracy data collected by MUSO, in January 2019 alone, there were over 362.7 million visits to websites that illegally streamed. Yahoo Sports seconds this likely rise in piracy web services. Their coverage of the story explains, “There are now thousands of pirated TV services around the globe. Their collective revenues, according to most estimates, have reached nine or 10 figures.”

Streit is facing one count of accessing a protected computer for the purpose of committing criminal acts, one count of knowingly accessing a protected computer for purpose of fraud, one count of wire fraud, one count of illicit digital transmission, one count of sending interstate threats with the intent to extort. That’s a full count, but if convicted on any count, he’s unlikely to walk.