A British citizen named Joseph James O’Connor, who allegedly participated in computer attacks, including the July 2020 Twitter hack of public figures like Joseph Biden, Barack Obama, and Bill Gates, has been approved for extradition to the U.S. by Spain’s National Court. According to a court statement released on Friday, O’Connor will face 14 charges, including revelation of secrets, membership of a criminal gang, illegal access to computer systems, internet fraud, money laundering, and extortion.
O’Connor, who is 23 years old and from Liverpool, England, was detained in Estepona, a southern Spanish coastal town, in July 2021. He is accused of hacking roughly 130 Twitter accounts and is also wanted for allegedly hacking the Snapchat account of an unidentified public figure and attempting to extort them by threatening to publish their nude photos.
The Twitter accounts of prominent figures such as Kim Kardashian, Warren Buffett, Benjamin Netanyahu, Jeff Bezos, Michael Bloomberg, and Kayne West were targeted by the suspected hacker. The attacker used these accounts to solicit digital currency, which led Twitter to temporarily disable some verified accounts until security measures were reinforced.
Additionally, the suspect is wanted for multiple incidents of “swatting,” which involve making false emergency calls to law enforcement in an attempt to provoke a large police response to a particular location.
In addition to the previous incidents, US authorities requested additional charges for the extradition, which included multiple computer hacks aimed at stealing money and cryptocurrency, allegedly laundered through bank transfers and transactions.
Despite arguments by O’Connor’s lawyers that he should be tried in Spain due to the location of the servers he used, the court ruled in favor of extradition to the US. The court stated that the US is better positioned to prosecute the case, as evidence obtained in the investigation and any damage caused is located there.
According to the statement, O’Connor is wanted by courts in the Northern District of California and the Southern District of New York. The extradition order can be appealed.
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Author: Mike Lennon
