US court sentences PlugWalkJoe, the global hacker who operated from Estepona, to five years in jail

Infamous hacker PlugWalkJoe, who from Malaga penetrated the Twitter accounts of Joe Biden, Barack Obama and Elon Musk, among others, has been sentenced to five years’ jail.

A New York court sentenced Joseph James O'Connor, the 24-year-old British cybercriminal who from committed the crimes from the Costa del Sol, to five years in prison on Friday 22 June.

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But 28 months will be taken off his sentence after he already served time in Spain before his extradition to the United States. He will only have to spend two years and eight months more behind bars.

The North American justice requested 70 years in prison for O'Connor for ten criminal charges, but Judge Jed Rakoff imposed a much more lenient sentence.

O'Connor was accused of stealing cryptocurrencies worth 726,000 euros, hacking the Twitter accounts of Joe Biden, Barack Obama and Elon Musk, among many other high-profile people, causing experts to consider it the biggest hack in history.

He was also accused of harassing underrage girls who had become famous on TikTok and Snapchat, as well as playing practical jokes on the internet that endangered many people.

He committed all of these crimes between 2019 and 2021, when the National Police, at the request of the FBI, arrested him in his villa on the Costa del Sol. He was 22 years old at the time.

Rakoff dismissed the seriousness of the cryptocurrency crime as “just money”, but condemned his harassment of young girls. "What he did impacted their lives," the judge said.

He stole intimate photos

During the hearing, the investigators in the case told the court that O'Connor had stolen intimate photos of a 19-year-old influencer and had threatened to upload them to a social network.

They also told the court that he had harassed a 16-year-old teenager online through a type of practical joke known as swatting, which involves making a hoax call to emergency services in an attempt to bring about the dispatch of a large number of armed police officers to a particular address. The Prosecutor's Office pointed out to the judge that this had caused ongoing problems for the young victim.

O'Connor, who was extradited from Spain to the United States in April, had already pleaded guilty in May to charges of hacking, computer fraud and cyberbullying.

While speaking to the judge, O'Connor asked for mercy. "I'm sorry. My crimes were stupid and senseless. I want a life that makes sense," he told the court. He also promised to return the 726,000 euros.

His defense attorney argued that O'Connor is still a very young person who risked spending his life in prison if the judge agreed with the maximum sentence requested by the Prosecutor's Office.