US court hearing for 17-year-old accused Twitter hacker was hacked with porn
- Graham Ivan Clark allegedly the mastermind of the scheme that hacked accounts of celebrities and politicians
- Raunchy images were broadcast into Wednesday’s online hearing, bringing it to an unceremonious end
A court hearing held via Zoom for a US teenager accused of masterminding a stunning hack of Twitter was interrupted Wednesday with rap music and porn
The purpose of the hearing was to discuss reducing bail terms set for the 17-year-old Tampa resident Graham Ivan Clark, who was arrested last Friday over the hack last month of the accounts of major US celebrities.
But the interruptions with music, shrieking and pornography became so frequent that Judge Christopher Nash ended up suspending it for a while.
Investigators view the youth as the brains behind the mid-July cyberattack that rocked Twitter.
Hackers accessed dozens of Twitter accounts of people such as Barack Obama, Joe Biden and Elon Musk, after gaining access to the system with an attack that tricked a handful of employees into giving up their credentials.
The hack affected at least 130 accounts, with tweets posted by the usurpers duping people into sending US$100,000 in bitcoin, supposedly in exchange for double the amount sent.
Bail for Clarke was set for US$725,000 and in the hearing his lawyers were seeking to reduce it.
After the judge suspended the hearing, and eventually resumed it, hackers went at it again – with interruptions that disguised their usernames as organisations such as CNN and BBC.
In the end, judge Nash ruled against reducing the youth’s bail.
He was arrested along with two others, aged 19 and 22, one of whom lives in Britain, and was charged with cyber fraud.
The two others were Mason Sheppard, 19, of Bognor Regis, United Kingdom, and Nima Fazeli, 22, of Orlando, who were charged separately last week in California federal court.
Fazeli’s father told Associated Press on Friday that he’s absolutely certain his son is innocent.
“He’s a very good person, very honest, very smart and loyal,” Mohamad Fazeli said. “We are as shocked as everybody else. “I’m sure this is a mix up.”
Clarke has pleaded not guilty and remains in jail.
Agence France-Presse, Associated Press and Bloomberg
