Twitter hacker ordered to pay back £4.1m worth of Bitcoin
A Twitter hacker who breached the accounts of celebrities including Barack Obama and Jeff Bezos has been forced to hand over £4million.
Joseph James O’Connor, 26, was jailed in the US for the hacks which involved scamming people out of Bitcoin and threatening celebrities with the release of personal images and messages.
Now the CPS Proceeds of Crime Division has obtained a Civil Recovery Order to recover 42 Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency, that O’Connor made from the scheme, which holds the value of around £4.1m.
The CPS team worked with partners in the USA and Spain to ensure that the order could be served against O’Connor stopping him from being able to hide the assets from authorities.
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.”
Notes to editors
- Joseph James O’Connor (DOB: 02/06/1999) pleaded guilty to:
- Conspiracy to commit computer intrusions x2
- Conspiracy to commit wire fraud
- Conspiracy to commit money laundering
- Committing computer intrusions x2
- Making extortive communications
- Stalking x2
- Making threatening communications
- He was sentenced to five years in prison in the USA in 2023.
- The Civil Recovery Order relates to: Bitcoin was 235.329 ETH (Ethereum), 15.23521 USDC (United States Dollar Coin), 42.378 BTC (Bitcoin) and 143273.5712677 BUSD (Binance US Dollar).
- The CPS Proceeds of Crime Division successfully obtained a Property Freezing Order in the High Court during extradition proceedings in relation to the Bitcoin.
- A Civil Recovery Order was made on 14 November 2025, and the crypto assets will now be liquidated by the court appointed Trustee. It was valued at £4.1m on 10 November 2025.
- The CPS Proceeds of Crime Division has in the last five years, recovered £478 million from obtained Confiscation Orders, ensuring that thousands of convicted criminals cannot profit from their offending. Over £95 million of that amount has been returned to victims of crime, by way of compensation.