The teenager behind last year's big celebrity Twitter hack is going to prison
Source: Vox
Graham Ivan Clark took a plea deal and will serve three years in prison for his role in a hack, which pulled in $120,000 worth of bitcoin.
By Sara Morrison Updated Mar 17, 2021, 11:55am EDT
A Florida teenager who was behind a massive hack of celebrity Twitter accounts last July has pleaded guilty and will likely serve three years in prison.
Graham Ivan Clark, now 18, was 17 when he commandeered some of the platform’s highest-profile accounts, including those belonging to Elon Musk and former President Barack Obama, and ended up scamming people out of about $120,000 in bitcoin. The verified accounts sent tweets directing followers to send bitcoin to a wallet, promising they’d get double their money back in return. They did not get double their money back, though prosecutors said Clark turned over whatever bitcoin he had left to go toward paying restitution to the victims.
Clark was charged with 30 felonies related to the hack, but his youthful offender status allowed him to avoid the mandatory 10-year minimum sentence. Instead, he’ll serve three years in a state prison for young adults and three on probation, assuming a judge signs off on the agreement.
Two others — Mason John Sheppard, 19, of the United Kingdom, and Nima Fazeli, 22, of Orlando, Florida — were also charged by the Department of Justice with felonies related to the hack. Sheppard was charged with three, and Fazeli was charged with one. Their cases have not yet been resolved; Fazeli’s lawyer maintains that his client is not guilty and that the one charge leveled against him, for aiding and abetting, is unrelated to the celebrity account hacks.
Read more: https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/7/16/21327474/florida-teen-arrested-twitter-hack-joe-biden-election-2020-security
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