Tampa teen pleads not guilty as documents reveal how feds cracked his Twitter hack case

Graham Ivan Clark, 17, remains in jail on $725,000 bail. His attorneys will argue Wednesday for a lower amount.

Obscure social media platforms, a hacked database and drivers license photos.

These are the crumbs that led federal agents to the illegal sale of celebrities’ Twitter accounts — Joe Biden, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Kanye West among them — and the arrest of a Tampa teen investigators call the “mastermind” of the operation, according to new court documents obtained by the Tampa Bay Times.

Graham Ivan Clark, 17, is accused of gaining access to the Twitter accounts and sending tweets soliciting others to send in payments of Bitcoin, the hard-to-track cryptocurrency that stores transaction data on the blockchain — a decentralized public ledger. Prosecutors say Clark promised any Bitcoin sent in would be returned doubled. In all, Clark reaped $117,000 over about three hours, prosecutors said.

Clark, 17, a student at Gaither High School until last January, pleaded not guilty to the charges Tuesday in Hillsborough Circuit Court. He is scheduled for a bail hearing Wednesday, where his attorneys will argue for reduced bail. He remains in jail on $725,000 bail. He faces 30 charges and, if convicted, could spend up to 200 years in prison.

https://www.tampabay.com/news/crime/2020/08/04/tampa-teen-accused-of-profiting-from-twitter-hacks-pleads-not-guilty/