Twitter hacker and crypto scammer sentenced to five years in prison

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A federal court on Friday sentenced Joseph James OConner to five years in prison for his involvement in the 2020 Twitter hack. Last month, the 24-year-old, known as PlugwalkJoe online, pleaded guilty to a host of cybercrimes, including carrying out a SIM swapping attack that targeted a TikTok account with millions of followers. The 2020 Twitter hack saw OConner and his co-perpetrators gain access to the company’s backend and subsequently the accounts of Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Barack Obama and over 100 other high profile users. OConner made $794,000 in the ensuing crypto scam.

“After stealing and fraudulently diverting the stolen cryptocurrency, O’Connor and his co-conspirators laundered it through dozens of transfers and transactions and exchanged some of it for Bitcoin using crypto exchange services. cryptocurrency,” the Justice Department said. “Ultimately, some of the stolen cryptocurrency was deposited into a cryptocurrency exchange account controlled by O’Connor.” In 2021, Graham Ivan Clark, the teenager allegedly behind the breach, pleaded guilty in exchange for a three-year prison sentence. In addition to his five-year sentence, OConner also faces three years of probation after his prison sentence. He must also give up the $794,000 he defrauded during the hack.

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