The cryptocurrency market is no stranger to the controversies over a series of hacks and scams that have dominated the front pages for a long time. Some of the most recent attacks involving cryptocurrencies occurred a few weeks ago when major personalities’ Twitter accounts were hacked to scam people off their bitcoin holdings.
The hacked Twitter accounts belonged to bigwigs like Barack Obama, Democratic Presidential nominee Joe Biden, Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Microsoft founder Bill Gates. After a massive investigation conducted by law enforcement agencies, a couple of suspects were rounded up in connection with the hack, all of whom have pleaded not guilty.
One of the main suspects in the case was Graham Clark, a 17-year-old Florida resident who has vehemently plead not guilty in front of the city judge. Clark informed Circuit Court judge Christopher NMash that he was not guilty of the 30 felony charges leveled against him. Graham Clark is set to appear in court again today, where he will appeal to amend his $750,000 bail bond and release clauses. Clark’s lawyer, David Weisbrod is yet to divulge any information on how they will deal with the situation during the next hearing.
The hack took over multiple celebrity accounts and tweeted misinformation claiming that if their follower sent them Bitcoin, they would be doubled and sent back. By the time Twitter caught the rampant attack on the accounts, the hackers had already made off with more than $100,000. Clark was not the only person embroiled in the hack as he was also joined by two other individuals.
Mason Sheppard, a 19-year-old from Bognor Regis, Britain worked under the pseudonym Chaewom and has been charged with multiple counts of wire fraud and money laundering. It is not yet confirmed how Sheppard is related to Clark but investigations have revealed a money trail back to Sheppard. The third accused in the case was Orlando based Nima Fazeli. The 22-year-old goes by the nickname of Rolex and has been charged for being an accessory to the crimes.
Details of the final sentencing and fines will only be given out after the hearings on Wednesday and the coming days. Twitter claimed that the hackers used a method known as ‘social engineering’, which allowed them to access vulnerable information. Sources stated that Clark and his associates convinced Twitter support that they were IT officials who needed customer credentials to conduct routine checks.