Two Men Hit With Federal Charges For Hacking NBA and NFL Players’ Social Media Accounts

According to the Associated Press, two men have been federally charged with wire fraud conspiracy and computer fraud conspiracy for illicitly gaining access to social media accounts belonging to two NFL players and one NBA player.

21-year-old Trevontae Washington of Thibodaux, Louisiana, allegedly obtained and sold the login information for multiple pro athletes’ social media accounts. 20-year-old Ronnie Magrehbi of Orlando, Florida, on the other hand, is being charged with obtaining an NFL player’s email and Instagram account login in an extortion plot. Ironically, the two crimes are not connected.

According to court docs, Magrehbi allegedly attempted to extort money from an NFL player with threats of leaking explicit photos. He eventually obtained a $500 payment in 2018. The Florida man eventually did release the nudes but demanded another $2,500 to prevent the release of any further images.

Washington used a phishing scheme to obtain login information. He then sold the info to unknown buyers, charging anywhere between $500 and $1,000.

The athletes who were victimized have not been named. However, they all resided in New Jersey at the time of the schemes.