• Joseph O’Conner, the mastermind behind the infamous 2020 Twitter hack, was sentenced to five years in prison on Friday for his crime and a separate SIM swapping scheme.
• O’Conner was able to steal $103,960 from unsuspecting users by hijacking high-profile accounts such as CoinDesk, Coinbase, Binance and mainstream figures like Elon Musk.
• Graham Clark, considered the leader of the co-conspirators involved in the hack, was sentenced to three years in prison earlier this year after receiving 30 felony charges.
Joseph O’Conner Sentenced For 2020 Twitter Hack
Judge Jed Rakoff granted 24-year old Joseph O’Conner 28-months credit for time already served, leaving less than 3 years to his sentence. The US also asked for forfeiture/restitution of $2 million during sentencing in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on Friday.
The Infamous Twitter Hack
O’Conner – otherwise known by his Twitter handle PlugWalkJoe – conspired to hack over 100 high-profile Twitter accounts in July 2020. He and co-conspirators used their handles to solicit Bitcoin (BTC) from their followers, falsely promising to send back BTC in return. The hack began by hijacking crypto-industry specific accounts like CoinDesk, Coinbase, and Binance before moving onto mainstream figures like Elon Musk, Warren Buffet, Joe BIden, Barrack Obama and Kim Kardashian alongside companies like Apple Uber and CashApp.
Hacker Evaded Capture For One Year
O’Conner managed to net $103,960 from the scheme before posts were taken down by Twitter. He is one of four co-coinspirators known to be involved with the hack together with Nima Fazeli Mason John Sheppard and Graham Clark who was arrested shortly after the hack took place while O’Connor evaded authorities for approximately one year before being arrested in Spain at Federal Bureau of Intelligence (FBI) request and extradited to United States last month .
Leader Of Co-Conspirator Pack Sentenced To Three Years In Prison
Graham Clark aged seventeen was considered leader of pack he received thirty felony chargesand sentence dto three years prison March 2021 .
Cryptocurrency Crimes Impact Lives
Judge Rakoff noted that cryptocurrency crimes are not just about money but lives were impacted adding “In California crimes he ruined lives other young people“ during sentencing .