By Oyintari Ben
A British man pleaded guilty on Tuesday for his participation in schemes to hack the Twitter accounts of famous people like Elon Musk and Barack Obama, and stealing $794,000 in cryptocurrency.
23-year-old Joseph James O’Connor, who had been extradited from Spain on April 26, pleaded guilty in a New York court.
For the July 2020 breach of more than 130 Twitter accounts, including those of Apple, Uber, Kanye West, Bill Gates, Joe Biden, Obama, and Musk, he was detained in Spain over two years ago.
He and other members of his hacking crew took control of the accounts and promised to double the money sent by the owners’ followers in exchange for Bitcoin.
In 2019, the group also accessed the social media accounts of two media figures—Addison Rae, a TikTok star, and Bella Thorne, an actress—using a method known as sim card swaps.
These figures were not mentioned in court documents but were identified in press reports.
Threats to publish their private photos and other details were made by the gang.
Additionally, they took virtual currency worth $794,000 from a New York Bitcoin company using the same method.
O’Connor, also known online as PlugwalkJoe, admitted guilt to several counts of hacking, extortion, stalking, wire fraud, and money laundering.
The most serious charges carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in jail.
Graham Ivan Clark, a Florida teenager who was allegedly the group’s leader, was given a three-year juvenile jail sentence as part of a plea deal in July 2021.
Clark, who was only 17 at the time of the indictment, received the maximum term permitted under Florida’s Youthful Offender Act.
