By Darren Parkin
A British national who was involved in a crypto scam that hacked into the accounts of celebrities such as Elon Musk, Joe Biden, Kanye West and Barack Obama has been jailed for five years.
Joseph James O’Connor pleaded guilty to hacking 130 prominent social media accounts in 2020 as part of an elaborate plot to entice people to hand over Bitcoin.
The 24-year-old was found guilty of stealing almost $800,000 of the flagship cryptocurrency after hijacking high-profile accounts which also included Apple and Uber.
The cyber criminal was snared in Spain in July 2020 and extradited to the US earlier this year. On Friday, he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit computer intrusions, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering, as well as stalking two victims.
On top of the five-year sentence, O’Connor was ordered to pay $794,000 and handed a further three years of supervised release.
“O’Connor’s criminal activities were flagrant and malicious and his conduct impacted multiple people’s lives,” said Kenneth A Polite Jr of the US justice department’s criminal division after the guilty pleas.
“He harassed, threatened and extorted his victims, causing substantial emotional harm. Like many criminal actors, O’Connor tried to stay anonymous by using a computer to hide behind stealth accounts and aliases from outside the United States.”
Another UK national – Mason Sheppard from Bognor Regis – and Nima Fazel of Florida, have also been charged in connecting with the fraud.
Graham Ivan Clark of Florida was put behind bars two years ago for his part in the scam.
