Briton pleads guilty to hacking stars’ Twitter accounts to steal Bitcoin
A British man has pleaded guilty to hacking Twitter accounts – including Barack Obama, Kim Kardashian and Elon Musk – in a bid to con people out of Bitcoin.
Joseph O’Connor, 23, also admitted other hacking schemes, cyberstalking a young victim, and money laundering charges.
He was extradited from Spain to New York last month and faces as much as 77 years in jail when he is sentenced on 23 June.
O’Connor and his co-conspirators stole more than $794,000 (£629,000) of cryptocurrency – money he must give back to victims, according to prosecutors.
Twitter had to freeze some of the stars’ accounts after the tweets in July 2020 urged people to send $1,000 in Bitcoin to receive double back.
He also hacked accounts belonging to Kanye West, Joe Biden, Bill Gates, investor Warren Buffett, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos.
Twitter confirmed 130 accounts were targeted, with 45 used to send tweets.
The company said the hackers got access via a social engineering attack – a breach based on convincing someone to provide access, rather than finding flaws in software.
Twitter said at the time that “a small number of employees” were called over the phone and tricked into providing their login credentials.
Barack Obama was among those hacked
The amateur quality of the scam surprised many compared with how effective the attackers had been at gaining access.
“O’Connor’s criminal activities were flagrant and malicious, and his conduct impacted multiple people’s lives,” said Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Polite.
“He harassed, threatened, and extorted his victims, causing substantial emotional harm.”
British citizen Joseph James O’Connor is led by Spanish police officers as he leaves a court in July 2021
O’Connor, who was known online by the handle PlugWalkJoe and previously gave interviews to the media regarding the hack, was arrested in July 2021 in Spain at the request of the FBI.
Elon Musk says he has created a new political party – the America Party –
after asking his followers if he should do so in an online poll.
It follows his public falling out with Republican President Donald Trump.
On Friday, the billionaire had asked his followers on X whether a new US political party should be created.
On Saturday evening he wrote on the same platform: “By a factor of 2 to 1, you want a new political party and you shall have it!
“When it comes to bankrupting our country with waste & graft, we live in a one-party system, not a democracy.
“Today, the America Party is formed to give you back your freedom.”
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Trump threatens to ‘put DOGE’ on Musk
The world’s richest man made the announcement just one day after President Trump signed a tax-cut and spending bill into law on Friday, which Musk had fiercely opposed.
Musk had previously said we would form and fund a new political party to unseat lawmakers who supported the bill.
From bromance to bust-up
The Tesla boss backed Trump’s election campaign with more than a quarter of a billion dollars, later rewarded with a high profile role running the newly created department of government efficiency (DOGE).
But observers of the two men, both with huge wealth and reputations, wondered how long the bromance would last.
Donald Trump gave Musk a warm send-off in the Oval Office in May. Pic: Reuters
In May Musk left the role, still on good terms with Trump but criticising key parts of his legislative agenda.
After that, the attacks ramped up, with Musk slamming the sweeping tax and spending bill as a “disgusting abomination” and Trump hitting back in a barbed tit-for-tat.
Trump earlier this week threatened to cut off the billion-dollar federal subsidies that flow to Musk’s companies, and said he would even consider deporting him.
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