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A teenager, who is allegedly behind the July 15 Twitter hack, is now facing several counts of fraud in connection with the incident. Reports also revealed that the young suspect actually owned millions of dollars worth of Bitcoin (BTC).
Seventeen-year-old Graham Clark is accused of being the mastermind behind the Twitter attack on July 15 and is now facing 30 counts of “organized fraud, fraudulent use of personal information and communications fraud,” according to Bitcoin.com. The Hillsborough County Courthouse judge set Clark’s bail at $725,000.
Due to Covid-19 restrictions, the 17-year-old defendant was not physically present in court to attend the hearing. The publication noted that Clark “appeared” before County Judge Joelle Ann Ober via a video monitor while two of his accomplices were arrested in California awaiting charges.
Being underage, Clark will be charged with state charges instead of federal. Prosecutors wanted the teenager to post higher bail after revealing that Clark currently owns 300 BTC, which is valued around $3.3 million.
However, Clark’s defense attorney David Weisbrod argued that his client’s cryptocurrency holding did not come from illegal activities. He explained that law enforcement took 400 BTC from Clark in 2019 when he was under criminal investigation and later returned 300 BTC back to Clark.
Arguing that Clark is a flight risk, prosecutors previously wanted to set his bail at $1 million while Weisbrod wanted the bail to be set at $20,000. In the end, the judge favored a higher bail and set it at $725,000.
On July 15, 2020, multiple high-profile Twitter accounts were hacked and used to spread a fake cryptocurrency giveaway. Affected accounts included Apple, Google, Bill Gates, Joe Biden, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Barack Obama.
The hacked accounts then tweeted messages that encouraged people to send cryptocurrency to a specific wallet. The message promised that those who send within the cutoff period will get double the amount in return.
“I am giving back to the community,” the message on Biden’s hacked Twitter account said. “All Bitcoin sent to the address below will be sent back double! If you send $1,000, I will send back $2,000. Only doing this for 30 minutes.”
Clark reportedly received $117,000 from the July 15 Twitter hack. However, prosecutors still suspect that his 300 BTC stash worth $3.3 million might also be illegally obtained.
