Graham Ivan Clark is a 17-year-old residing in Tampa, Florida. He received national media attention in July 2020, after being arrested in connection to the Twitter 2020 Hack along with fellow hackers Nima Fazeli and Mason Sheppard. ^{[5] [6] [9] [10]}

Before the time Clark was ten years old, he was playing Minecraft. In Minecraft, Clark became known as an adept scammer with an explosive temper who cheated people out of their money.

On Friday July 31, 2020, Clark was booked into the Hillsborough County, Florida jail around 6:30 a.m. local time. He is accused of being the alleged mastermind behind the 2020 Twitter hack that caused limited access to the site and high-profile accounts. The hacks led to fraudulent tweets being sent out on July 15, 2020 from the accounts of Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Michael Bloomberg and a number of tech billionaires including Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Celebrities Kanye West and his wife, Kim Kardashian West, were also hacked. ^[2]

The tweets offered to send $2,000 for every $1,000 sent to an anonymous Bitcoin address. The hackers managed to access the direct message inbox of 36 accounts and downloaded the Twitter data for seven accounts. ^[2]

The two other suspects arrested were identified as 22-year-old Nima Fazeli, a.k.a. “Rolex,” of Orlando, Florida and 19-year-old Mason Sheppard, a.k.a. “Chaewon,” of the United Kingdom. ^[5]

Federal authorities were already tracking Clark before his connection with the 2020 Twitter hack.

In April 2020, the United States Secret Service seized over $700,000 worth of Bitcoin from Clark. ^{[5] [7]}

Twitter’s investigation revealed that the hacker "Kirk" targeted a small number of Twitter employees through a phone spear phishing attack to gain access to the Twitter admin panel. He used that access to sell “OG Twitter handles,” which are usually short profile names ( @B or @joe). The OG accounts are known to be sold for thousands of dollars. ^[2]

According to The New York Times, Kirk sold the handles on OGusers.com, a popular marketplace for buying and selling vanity social media accounts, via intermediaries, including Sheppard, under the username Chaewon, and Fazeli, under the username Rolex. ^[7]

Clark faces thirty felony charges, including fraud, and is being charged as an adult. The charges Clark is facing include one count of organized fraud, 17 counts of communications fraud, one count of fraudulent use of personal information with over $100,000 or 30 or more victims, 10 counts of fraudulent use of personal information and one count of access to computer or electronic device without authority. ^[2]

On August 1, 2020, a $725,000 bail for Clark was set.

But the attorney for him said his client has more than $3 million worth of Bitcoin. Under Florida law, it would take 10 percent of the bail set, $72,500, to free Clark pending trial.^[11]

Prosecutors first sought bail at $1 million per charge for each of Clark's 30 counts and argued Florida case law says he must prove the money used to post his bail was legitimately obtained.

^[11]

"Because, based upon the conduct of this defendant, I believe it's appropriate to assume that every single penny that this defendant has access to is by ill-gotten gains," the prosecutor said.

"And we’re talking about millions of dollars."

Defense attorney David Weisbrod denied that his client’s assets were illegally obtained.

He explained to the judge that Clark was the subject of a criminal investigation last year conducted by prosecutors in Hillsborough and Santa Clara, California. They obtained a search warrant and seized about $15,000 in cash from Clark, plus 400 Bitcoin, Weisbrod said. When prosecutors declined to charge Clark in April, his defense attorney said, they returned to him the cash and 300 Bitcoin, which is worth more than $3 million. Weisbrod argued that legitimizes those assets. "I can think of no greater indication of legitimacy than law enforcement giving the money back," said Weisbrod. He asked the judge to set bail at $20,000. ^[11]

The judge decided to set bail at $25,000 per 29 counts.

For the 30th charge, the judge ordered that if Clark posts bail he must wear an electronic monitor and be confined to his home, except for visits to the doctor or his attorney.

The judge barred him from accessing the internet on any device and ordered the 17-year-old to surrender his passport if he has one.^[11]

On August 4, 2020, Clark pleaded not guilty to the charges in Hillsborough Circuit Court.

He is scheduled for a bail hearing on August 5, where his attorneys will argue for reduced bail.

He remains in jail on $725,000 bail.^[12]