UK Orders Twitter Hacker Behind 2020 Obama Account Breach to Return $5.4m in Bitcoin

British prosecutors have ordered Joseph James O’Connor the hacker behind the 2020 breach of high-profile Twitter accounts, including that of former US President Barack Obama to repay £4.1 million ($5.4 million) in Bitcoin linked to the scam.

O’Connor, 26, pleaded guilty in the United States to charges including computer intrusion, wire fraud and extortion, and was sentenced in 2023 to five years in prison. He was arrested in Spain in 2021 and later extradited after the country’s High Court ruled that the US was best positioned to prosecute him given the location of the evidence and victims.

The UK’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) announced on Monday that it had secured a civil recovery order to seize 42 Bitcoin and other crypto assets tied to the 2020 scheme, which involved hijacking celebrity and political accounts to solicit digital currency and threaten prominent figures.

Prosecutor Adrian Foster said the action showed Britain’s ability to ensure criminals cannot profit from illicit activity even if they were not convicted in the UK. The civil order follows a property-freezing order issued during O’Connor’s extradition case. The seized assets will now be liquidated under the supervision of a court-appointed trustee.

The July 2020 cyberattack compromised accounts belonging to then-presidential candidate Joe Biden, Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Kim Kardashian and several others, prompting Twitter — now known as X to temporarily restrict verified accounts while responding to the breach.