A virtual court hearing was held on Tuesday, for Graham Ivan Clark, the 17-year-old accused of masterminding the July 15 hacking of Twitter accounts of several high-profile individuals, including tech moguls, celebrities and politicians.
However, the hearing was interrupted by infiltrators who gained access to the call and started playing porn, loud music and film dialogues.
Clark allegedly oversaw the hacking of accounts belonging to Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Joe Biden, Barack Obama, and Kanye West among others. The Florida resident posted requests for Bitcoin transfers on the hacked accounts, earning him more than $100,000, as previously reported.
Clark's Hearing Zoombombed by Hackers
Tuesday's hearing was to decide a bond for Clark. The teenager's lawyer was in the middle of requesting a reduction from the current $750,000 bond set for him when the intruders, posing as reporters from CNN and the BBC, started playing the disruptive and obscene content.
The provocateurs disrupted the hearing by shouting, playing loud music and movie dialogues and then Hillsborough Circuit Judge Christopher Nash had to temporarily shut down the hearing after all of the participants' screens were taken over by pornography. Hackers were able to play the videos and music as there were no restrictions on guests unmuting themselves or sharing their screens.
The interruptions continued when the hearing resumed ten minutes later but didn't stop Nash from giving his ruling, denying Clark's lawyer's request to reduce the bond that has kept his client in jail since his arrest last Friday. The judge also ruled to keep the hackers out of the next court hearing in October — saying it will be password-protected.
Clark Facing 30 Felony Charges
Clark is being prosecuted as an adult and is facing 30 felony charges, including 17 counts of communications fraud, 11 counts of fraudulent use of personal information, and one count each of organized fraud of more than $5,000 and accessing computers or electronic devices without authority.
Two of Clark's accomplices, Mason Sheppard, 19, of the UK, and Nima Fazeli, 22, of Orlando — were charged separately last week in a California federal court.
