Tampa teen charged in Twitter hack expected back in court Wednesday

TAMPA, Fla. - His defense says he’s not guilty, but investigators believe that 17-year-old Graham Clark from Tampa was the mastermind behind a massive Twitter hack that scammed people across the country out of thousands of dollars. 

During a Tuesday morning court hearing through Zoom, Hillsborough Judge Christopher Nash appeared perplexed and questioned out loud whether Clark's attorney, David Weisbrod, would show up for his client's arraignment. 

He asked both prosecutors about it, "Have either of you spoken to Mr. Weisbrod?  Do you know if he's planning on appearing this morning?"

Hillsborough assistant state prosecutor Darrell Dirks told Judge Nash he wasn't sure, however, he did receive a defense motion from Mr. Weisbrod for a bond-reduction hearing.

Judge Nash set the bond hearing for Wednesday at 9 a.m.

Authorities arrested the 17-year-old at his Tampa apartment on Friday, alleging that he was one of three people responsible for a Twitter hack that took place on July 15.

Courtesy: Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office

According to prosecutors, Clark was able to gain access to about 130 twitter accounts.  The accounts included prominent figures like former President Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Bill Gates and prominent companies like Apple and Uber. 

Investigators said the teen was able to scam $117,000 out of Twitter users in just a few hours after posting tweets from the hacked accounts. The tweets encouraged people to deposit money into a Bitcoin account with the promise of doubling the amount sent. 

Investigators also said the teen teamed up with two other individuals, a 22-year-old from Orlando and a 19-year-old from the United Kingdom. However, they said they believe Clark was the brains behind the operation as he had been working on the plan for over two months. 

Clark's bond has been set at $725,000. His defense stated at his first appearance that Clark did have the money and argued that the teen should be able to use some of the $3 million in virtual currency that he has to post bail.

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However, the state prosecutor asked the judge to require Clark to prove the source of any funds he may have before he’s able to bond out as they are concerned that any money in his name may not be legitimate. 

Clark currently has 30 counts of fraud and hacking against him. His defense has entered a plea of not guilty on his behalf.