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Ironic twist: Hearing for teen accused of hacking Twitter accounts gets hacked

Posted at 2:26 PM, Aug 06, 2020
and last updated 2020-08-06 14:44:28-04

TAMPA, Fla. — In an ironic twist, a bond hearing for the Tampa teen accused of hacking the Twitter accounts of politicians, celebrities and technology moguls got hacked this week.

The bond hearing took place over Zoom. During the hearing, the judge and attorneys were interrupted several times with people shouting racial slurs, playing music and showing pornographic images.

Seventeen-year-old Graham Clark is accused of using the hijacked Twitter accounts to scam people around the world out of more than $100,000 in Bitcoin.

The accounts included Bill Gates, Barack Obama and Elon Musk. Prosecutors believe Clark got accessby convincing a Twitter employee he was a coworker.

He faces numerous charges including 17 counts of communications fraud and 11 counts of fraudulent use of personal information.

Clark was arrested Friday and entered the not-guilty pleas Tuesday.

The judge denied a motion to reduce Clark's bond. He remains in jail with bond set at $725,000.

The next hearing is scheduled for October 7, and officials say it will be password protected.

This story originally reported by Matthew Borek on abcactionnews.com.