Fantasy football feud leads to fake bomb threat, international investigation and federal charges, prosecutors say
By Josh Campbell and Elizabeth Wolfe, CNN
(CNN) — Witty banter and rivalrous trash talk are commonplace in fantasy football leagues, but one Philadelphia man’s online beef has resulted in an international investigation and federal charges after he falsely accused a fellow player of intending to carry out violent attacks, prosecutors say.
Matthew Gabriel, 25, of Philadelphia has pleaded guilty to two counts of interstate and foreign communication of threats after prosecutors say he made false tips to police in the United States and overseas claiming his rival was planning a bombing and mass shooting, the US Justice Department announced Wednesday.
Gabriel made the first false threat after an online disagreement with a member of his fantasy football chat group, the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania said in a release.
After learning the member would be studying abroad in Norway in August 2023, Gabriel submitted an anonymous “tip” to the Norwegian Police Security Service – which investigates threats to the country’s national security – claiming the man was planning to carry out a mass shooting in Norway, according to the release.
Gabriel wrote that the fellow fantasy football player was “headed around Oslo and has a shooting planned with multiple people on his side involved. They plan to take as many as they can at a concert and then head to a department store,” according to prosecutors.
Law enforcement officers in Norway and the US dedicated five days and hundreds of hours to investigating the threat, prosecutors said. Gabriel eventually admitted in an interview with the FBI that he submitted the false tip, according to the US Attorney’s Office.
Gabriel’s “poor decision was an anomaly,” his attorney, Lonny Fish, told CNN Thursday in a statement. Gabriel “apologizes to the subject of the threat, Norwegian authorities who spent nearly 900 hours of manpower to investigate the case and anyone else who was hurt by his actions.”
While investigating Gabriel for the international hoax in Norway, prosecutors said they learned Gabriel emailed another fictitious threat earlier this year – this time to the University of Iowa.
In March, Gabriel emailed the university indicating the same fantasy football group member was threatening to “blow up the school,” which Gabriel knew was untrue, prosecutors said.
“While already being prosecuted for one hoax threat spurred by, of all things, his fantasy football league, Matthew Gabriel inexplicably decided to send another,” said Jacqueline Romero, US Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. “His actions were extremely disruptive and consumed significant law enforcement resources on two continents, diverting them from actual incidents and investigations.”
Gabriel was released on Tuesday on a $25,000 bond, court records indicate, and is scheduled to be sentenced in January 2025. He faces a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine.
Hoax threats are a crime, Romero warned in her statement.
“My advice to keyboard warriors who’d like to avoid federal charges: always think of the potential consequences before you hit ‘post’ or ‘send,’” she said.
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