UPDATE: Check out the Twitter account of the Houston Chronicle's David Barron, who was present during Correa's plea in open court. He provides every bit of information that needs to be known.
The MLB also relesased a statement in regards to the plea:
"Major League Baseball appreciates the efforts of federal law enforcement authorities in investigating the illegal breach of the Astros' baseball operations database, and identifying the perpetrator of this crime. We anticpate that the authorities will share with us the results of their investigation at the appropriate time, and we will determine what further actions to take after receiving all the relevant information."
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Last year the FBI, with cooperation from the MLB, was investigating the St. Louis Cardinals for allegedly hacking into the Houston Astros' computer database. The investigation has been going on for quite a while, but the latest rumors/reports suggest at least one person is coming forward after almost a year of speculation.
"The former scouting director of the St. Louis Cardinals is scheduled to plead guilty Friday to criminal charges in connection with an unauthorized breach of the Houston Astros computer network, according to people familiar with the case," according to Brian Costa and Devlin Barrett of the Wall Street Journal.
"Chris Correa, who was fired by the Cardinals last year, has tentatively agreed to plead guilty to 5 of 12 related charges, one person said."
Correa was dismissed in July as the allegations continued to mount and the Cardinals were under pressure. Correa was taking an imposed leave of absence at the time and his lawyer told the media he "denies any illegal conduct" in the case. Correa was replaced in late August when St. Louis hired Randy Flores.
The FBI was originally investigating 4-5 employees in the Cardinals' organization that were believed to have conducted the hack of the Astros' "Ground Control" database. The hacks allegedly occurred multiple times over the course of a few years and investigators reportedly traced one of the breaches back to a house in Jupiter, Fla., which is where the Cardinals conduct spring training.
The link between these two MLB teams is Astros' general manager Jeff Luhnow. The front office executive worked for the Cardinals from 2003-2011 before taking over as GM in Houston. He established a similar computer database, "Redbird," during his time in St. Louis.
Rumors have suggested Luhnow left the Cardinals on bad terms, which may have been the reason for the alleged hacks, but Luhnow denied any rift with the organization when he departed.
Perhaps some have overlooked this case merely because it deals with sports and it may not sound as serious as it should, but this whole incident is regarded as corporate espionage, as the Cardinals were allegedly attempting to steal intellectual property from Luhnow and the Astros. Such actions are criminal offenses, and harsh punishments may result depending on the severity of the offense.
"Investigators have uncovered evidence that Cardinals employees broke into a network of the Astros that housed special databases the team had built, law enforcement officials said," Michael A. Schmidt of the New York Times wrote when he broke the news over the summer. Internal discussions about trades, proprietary statistics and scouting reports were compromised, said the officials, who were not authorized to discuss a continuing investigation."
Stay tuned for updates on the case.
