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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Teen Twitter Hacker

Graham Ivan Clark, 18, was given a three-year sentence Tuesday after pleading guilty to last year's hacking of prominent Twitter accounts belonging to politicians, celebrities and technology moguls.

TAMPA, Fla. — Graham Ivan Clark, 18, was given a three-year sentence Tuesday after pleading guilty to last year's hacking of prominent Twitter accounts belonging to politicians, celebrities and technology moguls.

The unprecedented breach led Twitter to briefly suspend verified accounts, when posts from the likes of former President Barack Obama, Tesla CEO Elon Musk and reality star Kim Kardashian West all made clumsy pleas for Bitcoin at the same time.

Only 17 at the time of the crimes, Clark was tried in state court instead of federal court because prosecutors said state law allowed greater flexibility to try a minor as an adult in a financial fraud case.

In federal court, Mason Sheppard, of the United Kingdom, and Nima Fazeli, of Orlando, were charged as part of the same case.

Categories / Criminal, Entertainment, Media, Technology

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