Joseph James O’Connor, better known by his online nickname “PlugwalkJoe”, is now set to serve five years in prison. Joseph was caught from Spain and for some time he was facing trial in several criminal cases. Joseph was convicted of several cybercrimes including conspiracy to commit computer hacking, money laundering and cyberstalking. He also hacked the Twitter accounts of celebrities such as Barack Obama and Elon Musk and played a role in a scheme to steal $794,000 in cryptocurrency.

The United States Attorney’s Office (USAO) has informed in a press release that Joseph James O’Connor has been sentenced to five years in prison. This celebrity hacker of Twitter is 23 years old, who was detained from Spain on 26 April. He was arrested almost two years ago in Spain in July 2020 for hacking more than 130 Twitter accounts including those of Apple, Uber, Kanye West, Bill Gates, Joe Biden, Obama and Musk.

O’Connor and his associates hatched a well-planned conspiracy involving a SIM swap attack to steal cryptocurrency from a major cryptocurrency company. Through SIM swapping, he and his team gained control over the mobile phone numbers of the victims and gained access to their accounts. In this way, the hackers stole cryptocurrency worth about $794,000 (about Rs 6.5 crore), which has now increased to $1.6 million.

Subsequently, the stolen crypto was laundered through multiple transfers and exchanges, some of which was converted into bitcoin and deposited into O’Connor’s personal cryptocurrency exchange account.

Not only that, O’Connor has also been proven guilty of stalking and threatening a minor victim.