In a press conference on Friday, US authorities announced they arrested the main suspect behind this month's major Twitter hack, and charged two other accomplices.
The suspected main hacker was identified as Graham Ivan Clark, a 17-year-old teen from Tampa, Hillsborough County, Florida.
According to Florida news outlet WFLA-TV, which first reported on the arrest, Clark was arrested earlier this morning in Tampa, following a nationwide collaboration between the FBI, the IRS, the DOJ, and the Secret Service.
Hillsborough State Attorney Andrew Warren filed charges against Clark for being the "mastermind" behind the July 15 Twitter incident, when the teen is believed to have gained access to Twitter's backend, took over several high-profile accounts, and tweeted on their behalf to promote a cryptocurrency scam. The list of hacked accounts includes big names like Barrack Obama, Joe Biden, Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Apple, Uber, Kanye West, Kim Kardashian, Michael Bloomberg, and others.
Officials said the hack resulted in more than $100,000 being sent to Bitcoin "accounts associated with Clark" in one single day.
According to a press release from Warren's office, the teen now faces 30 felony charges, including:
The charges were announced in a live stream today by the Hillsborough State Attorney.
Watch live: Hillsborough State Attorney Andrew Warren is holding a news conference. https://t.co/AMpNLhfiDi
— 10 Tampa Bay (@10TampaBay) July 31, 2020
While initially Warren didn't specify if Clark had partners, hours after the press conference, in a separate announcement after this article went live, the US Department of Justice announced additional charges against two other suspects believed to have helped Clark in the hack.
The second suspect was identified as Mason Sheppard, aka "Chaewon," 19, of Bognor Regis, in the UK, while the third was identified as Nima Fazeli, aka "Rolex," 22, of Orlando, Florida. The DOJ didn't specify if the two have been apprehended.
Clark's arrest comes just hours after Twitter published its latest update on its investigation into the July 15 hack. Below is Twitter's entire investigation, summarized, for easier reading:
Article updated 20 minutes after publication with the DOJ's announcement of additional charges against two other suspects.