The former St. Louis Cardinals executive found guilty of hacking a rival team’s player roster has been sentenced to almost four years in federal prison and fined almost $300,000.
In January, the ex-director of baseball development for the Cardinals, Christopher Correa agreed to plead guilty to five counts of unauthorized access of a protected computer after hacking the player database of the American League’s Houston Astros.
In sentencing, Judge Lynn Hughes slapped the former executive with five concurrent custodial sentences of 46 months each, alongside a $279,038.65 restitution. He was released on bond and is to surrender to prison when designated.
Correa worked for the Cardinals from 2009 to July 2015. Shortly after becoming the director of scouting in 2013, he accessed the Astros’ Ground Control database on prospects.
According to authorities, Correa admitted to obtaining the password of an employee who left to work for the Astros. The employee was not identified, but Jeff Luhnow, the Astros general manager, left the Cardinals in 2011 to take the same position in Houston.
Correa tried variations of the password the former Cardinals employee used for his laptop and eventually gained access to the their Ground Control and email accounts, according to court documents. He also accessed the account of a second Astros employee.
He used the access to see what players the Astros were considering for the draft and also viewed the notes of the Astros’ trade discussions with other major league teams.
Correa’s January plea agreement put the monetary loss for the intrusions at $1.7 million.
Prior to sentencing, Correa read a statement to the court expressing remorse for his actions.
“Overwhelmed with remorse and regret” for his actions, he said that he had “violated” his values.
“I behaved shamefully,” he said. “The whole episode represents the worst thing I’ve done in my life by far.”
Major League Baseball could sanction the team with fines or draft pick penalties, U.S. sports media reports, but at present the league is only looking forward to receiving the court’s findings.
