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UK citizen and one of the perpetrators of the 2020 Twitter hack, Joseph James O’Connor, has been sentenced to five years in prison for his role in multiple cybercrime offences.
according to a Press release Judge ZS Rakoff, by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, sentenced O’Connor to two charges: conspiracy to commit computer hacking and theft of cryptocurrency through a SIM swap attack; His role in the computer intrusion related to the 2020 Twitter hack, the cyberstalking of two separate victims, and the takeover of TikTok and Snapchat user accounts.
O’Connor sentenced to five years in prison
The 24-year-old convict was extradited from Spain on April 26, 2023, and pleaded guilty to the charges against him on May 9, 2023. He faced a prison sentence of 20 years or more.
In his crimes, O’Connor used a SIM swap attack to steal bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH), and litecoin (LTC) worth $794,000 at the time from three executives of a Manhattan-based crypto company. The fraud scheme ran from March to May 2019. The stolen assets are currently worth more than $1.6 million, and O’Connor, along with his co-conspirators, laundered them through multiple crypto exchange accounts.
In addition, O’Connor participated in several crimes involving the exploitation of TikTok and Snapchat accounts, online extortion, and cyberstalking between 2019 and 2020. On one occasion, O’Connor and his associates gained unauthorized access to a public figure’s TikTok account. Millions of followers and posted self-promoting messages, threatening to release sensitive material to a specified group of individuals.
O’Connor’s role in the 2020 Twitter hack
In addition, O’Connor participated in a major Twitter hack of 2020, in which the accounts of top politicians and celebrities were compromised. Some of the victims include US President Joe Biden, former President Barack Obama, Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.
Twitter accounts of major crypto companies and celebrities such as Binance, Bitfinex, Coinbase, Changpeng Zhao and Justin Sun were affected. O’Connor and his co-workers made over $118,000 in crypto through tweets about fake gifts.
In addition to O’Connor’s prison term, he was sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay forfeiture of $794,000.
Meanwhile, O’Connor’s partner and the teenage mastermind of the Twitter hack, Graham Evan Clarke, is serving a three-year prison sentence in juvenile prison after pleading guilty in March 2021.
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UK citizen and one of the perpetrators of the 2020 Twitter hack, Joseph James O’Connor, has been sentenced to five years in prison for his role in multiple cybercrime offences.
according to a Press release Judge ZS Rakoff, by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, sentenced O’Connor to two charges: conspiracy to commit computer hacking and theft of cryptocurrency through a SIM swap attack; His role in the computer intrusion related to the 2020 Twitter hack, the cyberstalking of two separate victims, and the takeover of TikTok and Snapchat user accounts.
O’Connor sentenced to five years in prison
The 24-year-old convict was extradited from Spain on April 26, 2023, and pleaded guilty to the charges against him on May 9, 2023. He faced a prison sentence of 20 years or more.
In his crimes, O’Connor used a SIM swap attack to steal bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH), and litecoin (LTC) worth $794,000 at the time from three executives of a Manhattan-based crypto company. The fraud scheme ran from March to May 2019. The stolen assets are currently worth more than $1.6 million, and O’Connor, along with his co-conspirators, laundered them through multiple crypto exchange accounts.
In addition, O’Connor participated in several crimes involving the exploitation of TikTok and Snapchat accounts, online extortion, and cyberstalking between 2019 and 2020. On one occasion, O’Connor and his associates gained unauthorized access to a public figure’s TikTok account. Millions of followers and posted self-promoting messages, threatening to release sensitive material to a specified group of individuals.
O’Connor’s role in the 2020 Twitter hack
In addition, O’Connor participated in a major Twitter hack of 2020, in which the accounts of top politicians and celebrities were compromised. Some of the victims include US President Joe Biden, former President Barack Obama, Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.
Twitter accounts of major crypto companies and celebrities such as Binance, Bitfinex, Coinbase, Changpeng Zhao and Justin Sun were affected. O’Connor and his co-workers made over $118,000 in crypto through tweets about fake gifts.
In addition to O’Connor’s prison term, he was sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay forfeiture of $794,000.
Meanwhile, O’Connor’s partner and the teenage mastermind of the Twitter hack, Graham Evan Clarke, is serving a three-year prison sentence in juvenile prison after pleading guilty in March 2021.
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PrimeXBT SPECIAL OFFER: Use this link to register and enter the code CRYPTOPOTATO50 to receive up to $7,000 on your deposit.
