NEW YORK -- A Minnesota man was charged Thursday with trying to extort $150,000 from the MLB as he illegally streamed copyrighted content from major professional sports leagues online.
Joshua Streit, 30, of St. Louis Park, Minnesota, was charged in a criminal complaint filed in Manhattan federal court with extortion, accessing a protected computer to commit fraud for personal gain, wire fraud and illicit digital transmission.
It was not immediately clear who will represent him at an initial appearance in federal court in Minnesota.
Federal authorities said Streit hacked into the computer systems of MLB, the NBA, the NFL and the NHL to stream copyrighted live games before trying to extort $150,000 from MLB with threats to publicize alleged vulnerabilities in MLB's internet infrastructure.