Twitter hacker pleaded guilty to Florida Court

The hackers, which prosecutors say led by Mr. Clark, initially used their access to Twitter’s internal systems to hijack accounts with unusual usernames such as @dark and @. vague, which they sold on OGUsers for thousands of dollars. But when the attack took place, the hackers changed tactics. Accounts belonging to celebrities and crypto companies have tweeted messages promising to double the amount of anyone who sends Bitcoin.

But the offer is a scam. Darrell Dirks, a prosecutor with a Florida state attorney’s office, said during Tuesday’s trial: “No Bitcoin coins have been returned as promised to these victims.

Two other young men, Nima Fazeli and Mason Sheppard, were also arrested and faced charges related to the hack. The case of Mr. Sheppard and Mr. Fazeli is underway.

Mr. Clark, who attended court on Tuesday via videoconference, pleaded guilty to 30 charges against him. In a deal with prosecutors, Mr. Clark agreed to three years in juvenile prison, followed by three years’ probation. He also agrees not to use computers without permission or supervision from law enforcement. If he breaks the terms of the agreement, he could face up to 10 years in prison.

Because Mr. Clark is classified as a young offender under Florida law that provides more lenient sentence terms for young people, he may be eligible to serve some of his sentences in a camp. train. Prosecutors said he transferred the cryptocurrency he owned at the time of his arrest and it would be used to compensate the victims of the hack. He will get 229 days credit for service time since his arrest last year.

“He took accounts of celebrities, but the money he stole came from people who work regularly, hard. Graham Clark needs to be held accountable for that crime, and potential scammers out there need to see the consequences, ”Hillsborough’s state attorney, Andrew Warren, said in a statement. “In this case, we can address those consequences while realizing that our goal with any child, whenever possible, is for them to learn the lesson without breaking it. destroy their future. “

David Weisbrod, Mr. Clark’s attorney, declined to comment on the plea agreement.