Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office
- Graham Clark, the 17-year-old charged with orchestrating a massive Twitter hack last month, reportedly has a history of scamming people with Bitcoin.
- Clark faces 30 felony charges in Florida, where he is accused of taking over dozens of verified Twitter accounts, including those of Barack Obama, Bill Gates, and Kim Kardashian, to trick people into handing over money.
- Legal records show that Clark was previously suspected of being involved in the theft of $856,000 at age 16 but was never charged.
- He also reportedly built a reputation in Minecraft communities as a grifter who would frequently scam people out of their money.
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New details are surfacing about the 17-year-old accused of "masterminding" last month's massive Twitter hack — and they reveal a pattern of scams dating back years.
Last year, Graham Ivan Clark was the subject of a criminal investigation in which Florida prosecutors seized $15,000 and 400 Bitcoin, his lawyer said.
Prosecutors ultimately did not charge Clark last year and returned the cash and 300 Bitcoin to him, worth over $3 million. The victim in that case told The New York Times that prosecutors didn't charge Clark at the time because he was still a minor.
In the years before that, Clark reportedly built a reputation as a frequent scammer online, including in the online video game Minecraft. Clark's former friends told The New York Times that he would regularly demand money in exchange for in-game items, only to keep the items for himself after receiving payment.
Social media posts from Clark's now-deleted Instagram account, @error, reportedly showed Clark posing with designer sneakers and a Rolex watch in recent months.
Clark faces 30 felony charges in Tampa, Florida, for his purported involvement in the Twitter hack, which compromised more than 100 accounts, including those belonging to Barack Obama, Bill Gates, and Kim Kardashian, and posted messages encouraging people to send Bitcoin to a scammer's address.
Clark's bail has been set at $725,000, the Tampa Bay Times reported Sunday.
Clark is accused of collaborating with others on the Twitter hack — Mason Sheppard, 19, who lives in the United Kingdom and goes by "Chaewon," and Nima Fazeli, 22, of Orlando, Florida, who goes by "Rolex," were both arrested in connection with the hack, the Department of Justice said.
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