The St. Louis Cardinals have fired their scouting director in the wake of an FBI investigation into charges that someone in the team’s front office hacked into the computer system of the Houston Astros.
On Thursday the Cardinals announced the termination of scouting director Chris Correa.
Cardinals lawyer James G. Martin confirmed the move, saying Correa had already been on an “imposed leave of absence.” Martin did not, however, confirm that the move stemmed from the hacking charges.
Correa’s lawyer, Nicholas Williams, released a statement saying, “Mr. Correa denies any illegal conduct. The relevant inquiry should be what information did former St. Louis Cardinals employees steal from the St. Louis Cardinals organization prior to joining the Houston Astros, and who in the Houston Astros organization authorized, consented to, or benefited from that roguish behavior?”
Additionally, the Cardinals reiterated that the team did not hack the Astros and denied the claim that an official hand guided the supposed intrusion.
Still, Correa has reportedly admitted he looked into the Astros’ database but claimed he never released any information and has said he had no part in the further hacking incidents that the FBI has alleged.
Early in June news broke that the FBI was investigating the Cardinals front office under the suspicion that the Major League Baseball team had hacked into the Houston Astros computer system.
Investigators alleged that they had uncovered evidence that the Astros database had been hacked. The system was created by Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow, who used to work for the Cardinals and ran a similar database in St. Louis. It also appears that Luhnow used the same passwords in both places, making a hack easier.
At that time Major League Baseball issued a statement saying, “Major League Baseball has been aware of and has fully cooperated with the federal investigation into the illegal breach of the Astros’ baseball operations database. Once the investigative process has been completed by federal law enforcement officials, we will evaluate the next steps and will make decisions promptly.”
Investigators reported that the FBI traced the hacking back to a house in Jupiter, Florida, the city where the Cardinals play during spring training.
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