How a fantasy football feud went psycho with fake mass shooting threat sent to Norway, fake bomb threat sent to US college

What began as a fantasy football feud ended with a Pennsylvania man pleading guilty to federal felony charges in connection with a fake mass shooting threat that crossed international borders and a fake domestic bomb threat.

Matthew Gabriel of Philadelphia got into an argument with a member of his fantasy football league in a group chat in August 2023. After learning his league-mate was traveling to Norway to study abroad, Gabriel allegedly submitted an anonymous online tip to the Norwegian Police Security Service.

'His actions were extremely disruptive and consumed significant law enforcement resources on two continents, diverting them from actual incidents and investigations.'

The tip read: "On August 15th a man named [Victim 1] is 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. I don’t know any more people then [sic] that."

The tipster added, "I just can’t have random people dying on my conscience. He plans to arrive there unarmed spend a couple days normal and then execute the attack. Please be ready. He is around a 5 foot 7 read [sic] head coming from America, on the 10th or 11th I believe. He should have weapons with him. Please be careful."

Law enforcement in Norway and the United States spent more than 900 investigative hours over a five-day span, according to the New York Post.

When interviewed by the FBI, Gabriel allegedly admitted that he had submitted the tip and that he had fabricated the mass shooting threat.

Despite prosecutors filing federal charges for the first phony tip, Gabriel “inexplicably” fabricated a bomb threat to frame the fantasy football league member.

United States Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero stated, “While already being prosecuted for one hoax threat spurred by, of all things, his fantasy football league, Matthew Gabriel inexplicably decided to send another.”

In March 2024, the University of Iowa received an email with the subject line “Possible Threat.”

"Hello, I saw this in a group chat I’m in and just want to make sure everyone is safe and fine," the email began. "I don’t want anything bad to happen to anybody. Thank you. A man named [PERSON 1] from I believe Nebraska sent this, and I want to make sure that it is a joke and no one will get hurt."

The email contained a screenshot of a fantasy football group message that read: “Hello University of Iowa a man named [Victim 1] told me he was gonna blow up the school.”

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania stated in a press release, "Gabriel knew that the victim was not going to blow up the university and that the message had been sent in jest by another member of the fantasy football group regarding Gabriel’s prior threat. Despite knowing that there was no actual threat to the University of Iowa, the defendant transmitted the email knowing that the University of Iowa would view it as a true threat."

Gabriel’s attorney, Lonny Fish, told the Philadelphia Inquirer on Wednesday, “It was just a practical joke. It probably went a little further than it was meant to go.”

On Wednesday, the 25-year-old pleaded guilty to two felony counts of transmitting interstate threats — each punishable by up to five years in prison.

Gabriel is set to be sentenced in January, and prosecutors agreed to recommend a 15-month house arrest sentence and three years of probation.

“This guy is fortunate as hell to get house arrest,” Fish said of his client. “I wouldn’t recommend anyone else do this and expect to get the same result.”

U.S. Attorney Romero said, “His actions were extremely disruptive and consumed significant law enforcement resources on two continents, diverting them from actual incidents and investigations. Hoax threats aren’t a joke or protected speech, they’re a crime. My advice to keyboard warriors who’d like to avoid federal charges: always think of the potential consequences before you hit ‘post’ or ‘send.’”

Wayne A. Jacobs, special agent in charge of FBI Philadelphia, declared, “You do not get to express emotions through violence or threats of violence. We thank our international partners for their assistance in bringing together this case."

What sparked the fantasy football league feud was not revealed.

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Male student 'changes' his gender to get into competitive university program, which awards bonus points to women: 'As easy as switching mobile plans'

A male student has played the gender ideology game and won, securing admission to a Norwegian university's prestigious industrial economics and technology management program (Indøk), which administrators appeared loath to give to a man.

The Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim noted various strategies to hit quotas for women, minorities, and non-straights among its employees, managers, and students in its "development plan for gender equality and diversity 2023-2025," citing an "over-representation of one gender in several disciplines."

For fear of having too many straight, white males, the university noted in its report that academic units among the organization's faculties and departments "with more than 20 employees and fewer than 35% of one gender should achieve an improvement of 2-3 percentage points during the period."

Extra to increasing representation by multiple points, the university saw fit to award applicants who applied as "female" extra points toward their application, thereby giving them a leg up when pursuing competitive placements in programs with purported gender imbalances.

The school's document explicitly states, "NTNU will apply ... award points on the basis of gender for study programmes that meet the criteria for the scheme, and where gender points are expected to have an effect on the gender balance of the programme."

Faced with an ostensibly rigged recruitment process, one male student who had failed to meet merit-based standards decided he would help with the gender balance, identify as a woman, and take the extra points, reported Reduxx.

The student told the Norwegian business newspaper Finansavisen that his gender transition took only seven weeks and was "about as easy as changing mobile plans," indicating that several other male students have followed suit and "changed their legal gender."

The legal transformation proved worthwhile. The student ultimately got into the school's esteemed Indøk program.

The Norwegian publication Dagbladet indicated that of the 252 people offered a place to study at Indøk this year, 67% or 170 were supposedly women. That figure does not reflect the temporary transvestite, who ultimately opted not to pursue studies in the program.

When pressed on whether the school would take any measures to account for the gender ideology loophole in its admissions process, Monica Rolfsen, dean of the university's faculty of economics, told Finansavisen, "What kind of gender you choose to have is a private matter, which we have nothing to do with. We are keen to implement and further develop a study program that is popular and that trains managers."

To have otherwise taken issue with the student's gaming of the admissions process might have gotten Rolfsen into hot water.

After all, last year, a Norwegian feminist with Women's Declaration International was investigated and faced more than three years in prison for suggesting a male who claimed to be a lesbian female was a man after all.

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Arab billionaire's son admits to murder of 23-year-old student, writes it off as a 'sex accident.' Won't return to UK to face justice because he 'doesn't like the weather'

23-year-old Martine Vik Magnussen was raped and murdered in 2008. Her body was found under debris and garbage in a London basement. Her Yemeni killer managed to elude police and avoid addressing his guilt until slipping up recently in an interview with the BBC.

Farouk Abdulhak, the playboy son of an Arab billionaire who fled the United Kingdom to Yemen, admitted to killing the student, writing off her tragic rape and murder as "just a sex accident gone wrong."

Despite this admission of guilt, Abdulhak has made it clear he has no intention of returning to the U.K. to face justice, in part because he is not a fan of the weather.

The murder and getaway

Magnussen, a Norwegian student, was last seen alive on March 14, 2008. She had gone out to celebrate having aced an exam at Regent's Business School. Between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m., she was seen getting into a taxi with fellow student and friend Farouk Abdulhak, reported the Guardian.

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One of the victim's friends suggested the victim and her killer had a platonic relationship and that she had rebuked him in a prior instance where he had attempted to kiss her.

Magnussen's friends later noted that Abdulhak got angry that evening whenever anybody attempted to take a picture of him and his future victim together, reported the BBC.

Two days later, police found her naked body dumped in the basement of a central London flat where the unrepentant rapist had been living. Abdulhak had reportedly made a "token attempt" to disguise Magnussen's corpse.

The Guardian noted that Magnussen's body showed signs she had put up a significant fight against her rapist. She had suffered 43 cuts and grazes, "many of them typical of assault type injuries or those received in a struggle."

Abdulhak erased his Facebook profile and boarded a March 14 flight to Cairo. A Yemeni national, he then returned to his homeland on his father's private jet.

The rapist's father, whose wealth enabled this escape, was Shaher Abdulhak, the founder of Shaher Trading. Shaher died of cancer in 2020, at which time, his net worth was roughly $8.4 billion, reported the Daily Mail.

While Abdulhak was Scotland Yard's prime suspect, his powerful family protected him. Additionally, Yemen has no extradition treaty with the U.K., so British officials proved powerless to force him back to the island to face justice.

Additional efforts were made, largely by the victim's father, to pressure the British government to use its leverage over the Islamic-terrorist haven to compel Abdulhak's extradition, but these too proved to be in vain.

The admission of guilt

Abdulhak has previously ignored interview requests from Western journalists but agreed to speak to BBC News Arabic special correspondent Nawal Al-Maghafi — a fellow Yemeni.

Ten days into a series of text exchanges, the rapist told Al-Maghafi, "I did something when I was younger, it was a mistake."

The rapist expressed apprehension over speaking to Al-Maghafi, recognizing her to be a journalist, but pressed on with his admission, writing, "I deeply regret the unfortunate accident that happened. 2 regret coming here [to Yemen] should have stayed and paid the piper."

"It's all a blur," said the rapist, noting that he has recurring flashbacks of the murder and that the smell of certain perfumes still make him uncomfortable.

When Al-Maghafi pressed the rapist on whether he would come back to face penalties over Magnussen's rape and murder, Abdulhak said, "I don't think justice will be served. ... I find that the criminal justice system there [in the UK] is heavily biased. I find that they will want to make an example of me being a son of an Arab, being… a son of someone rich… it's way too late."

Having moved the body and left the country, Abdulhak said he is "legally [expletive]."

On another occasion where the two discussed Abdulhak's crimes, the rapist wrote of Magnussen's death as "just an accident. Nothing nefarious. ... Just a sex accident gone wrong."

He claimed that he had been on cocaine the evening of March 14.

Justice delayed but not impossible

After learning of Al-Maghafi's correspondence with Abdulhak, the victim's father, Odd Petter Magnussen, said, "He has no empathy, obviously, with our family, and he doesn't show any sort of remorse or anything."

The interview not only confirmed Odd Petter's suspicions about Abdulhak's character but that there was cause for hope.

"I'm optimistic we might have a solution in the longer term… because we can talk to him. I'm more than ever convinced that there will be a solution to this case. I just hope it will be on… my ethical terms," added Odd Petter.

Magnussen's father previously emphasized that Abdulhak is a coward but "cannot hide forever."

Metropolitan police maintain that they "continue to do everything in our power to have [Abdulhak] returned to the UK to stand trial."

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Insane video: Tom Cruise actually motorcycles off Norwegian cliff for 'Mission: Impossible' stunt. What he pulls off to survive it is even better.

Actor Tom Cruise has developed a reputation not only for performing his own stunts but also for making them incredibly elaborate and downright terrifying.

For "Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One," which hits theaters next July, Cruise and his team worked up a stunt for the ages. His plan was to gun a motorcycle down an elevated ramp on the edge of a Norwegian cliff, head directly into skydive mode once he's airborne, and then parachute back to the ground.

The whole thing is over and done in a flash, but Cruise said in a behind-the-scenes video released Monday that it took "years" to develop and perfect.

"This is far and away the most dangerous thing we've ever attempted," Cruise says in a voiceover as the clip begins: