A man behind a 2020 Twitter hack, which compromised high-profile accounts including Elon Musk‘s, has been ordered to repay £4.1 million ($5.40 million) worth of Bitcoin.
Joseph James O’Connor, 26, pleaded guilty in the United States to charges including computer intrusion, wire fraud and extortion and was sentenced to five years in prison in 2023.
He was arrested in Spain in 2021 and extradited after the country’s High Court ruled the US was best placed to prosecute because the evidence and victims were there.
Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service on Monday said it had obtained a civil recovery order to seize 42 Bitcoin and other crypto assets linked to the scam, which involved using hijacked accounts to solicit digital currency and threaten celebrities.
Adrian Foster, Chief Crown Prosecutor for the CPS Proceeds of Crime Division, said: “Joseph James O’Connor targeted well-known individuals and used their accounts to scam people out of their crypto assets and money.
“We were able to use the full force of the powers available to us to ensure that even when someone is not convicted in the UK, we are still able to ensure they do not benefit from their criminality.”
The order, made last week, follows a property freezing order secured during extradition proceedings.
The assets will be liquidated by a court-appointed trustee, prosecutors said.
The July 2020 attack compromised accounts of then-Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, former President Obama, and others, including Bill Gates, Warren Buffett and Kim Kardashian, prompting Twitter, now called X, to temporarily restrict verified accounts.
The US justice department previously said O’Connor had participated in the exploitation of social media accounts, as well as online extortion and cyberstalking.
The hackers used social engineering tricks to get access to the Twitter accounts and send out tweets asking followers to send bitcoin to an account, promising to double their money.