British man faces over 70 years in prison after admitting he hacked more than 100 Twitter accounts 

A 23-year-old British man who was extradited to the US has admitted to hacking the Twitter accounts of famous people including Joe Biden, Barack Obama, Elon Musk, and Kim Kardashian.  

A British man could face over 70 years in prison after he admitted to hacking over 100 Twitter accounts, during one of the biggest hacks in the history of social media.  

According to Mail Online on Wednesday, May 10, Joseph James O’Connor pleaded guilty during a hearing in New York, for hacking accounts of famous people including Joe Biden, Barack Obama, Elon Musk and Kim Kardashian. 

In addition, he has also been charged with cyberstalking and several other schemes, after he was extradited from Spain on April 26.  

As per a statement by the US Department of Justice, O’Connor has been charged along with Mason Sheppard, who is from Bognor Regis, West Sussex.  

Aside from them, two American citizens, named Graham Ivan Clark and Nima Fazeli have also been charged.  

O’Connors activities were described by assistant attorney general Kenneth A Polite Jr of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division as ‘flagrant and malicious’.  

He said, O’Connor “harassed, threatened, and extorted his victims, causing substantial emotional harm”. 

“Like many criminal actors, O’Connor tried to stay anonymous by using a computer to hide behind stealth accounts and aliases from outside the United States.” 

“But this (guilty) plea shows that our investigators and prosecutors will identify, locate, and bring to justice such criminals to ensure they face the consequences for their crimes.” 

The US justice department also said that he “participated in the exploitation of social media accounts, as well as online extortion and cyberstalking.” 

Official reports also state that he has also pleaded guilty to other crimes related to hacking after he gained access to a high-profile account on Twitter.  

O’Connor will now face his sentence on June 23.