British cybercriminal forced to handover £4.1m after he hacked Obama's Twitter account to promote crypto scam

Joseph James O'Connor, 26, was jailed in the US for the scam which saw him get access to high-profile Twitter accounts and threatened celebrities with the release of personal images.

The Crown Prosecution Service's Proceeds of Crime Division has obtained an order to seize the 42 Bitcoin, worth around £4 million, which O'Connor made from the scheme.

The hack in July 2020 saw accounts belonging to Mr Obama, former President Joe Biden and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos taken over by O'Connor who then posted a request for followers to send Bitcoin to a link.

Read More: Chinese ‘cryptoqueen’ jailed after scamming more than 100,000 people in £5bn Bitcoin Ponzi scheme

Read More: Crypto tycoon found dead with gunshot wound to the head inside his Lamborghini in Ukraine

The CPS said they worked with partners in the US and Spain so they could serve the order and seize O'Connor's ill-gotten gains.

Adrian Foster, Chief Crown Prosecutor for the CPS Proceeds of Crime Division, said: “Joseph James O’Connor targeted well known individuals and used their accounts to scam people out of their crypto assets and money.

“We were able to use the full force of the powers available to us to ensure that even when someone is not convicted in the UK, we are still able to ensure they do not benefit from their criminality.”

The Civil Recovery Order has been issued, relating to 235.329 ETH (Ethereum), 15.23521 USDC (United States Dollar Coin), 42.378 BTC (Bitcoin) and 143273.5712677 BUSD (Binance US Dollar).

He was sentenced to five years in prison in the USA in 2023.