UK Civil Recovery Order Secures £4.1 Million in Crypto from Twitter Celebrity-Account Hacker

_{Barack Obama was among those targeted. (Image: Mark Reinstein/Alamy)}

A man in the U.K. has been ordered to hand over roughly £4.1 million in cryptocurrency after running a high-profile hack of celebrity social-media accounts and using them to perpetuate a Bitcoin scam. The case highlights how U.K. authorities are using civil asset-recovery powers even when prosecutions were carried out overseas.

UK Secures High Court Order to Seize Digital Asset Holdings

In July 2020, the social-media platform then known as Twitter (now X) experienced a major breach. Accounts of public figures including former U.S. President Barack Obama, then-Presidential candidate Joe Biden, tech entrepreneur Elon Musk and others were compromised in order to solicit Bitcoin from followers.  

Joseph James O’Connor (born 2 June 1999) pleaded guilty in the U.S. in 2023 to multiple offences including computer intrusion, wire fraud, extortion, stalking and money-laundering. He was sentenced to five years in federal prison.  

On 14 November 2025, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) successfully obtained a civil recovery order in the U.K.’s High Court to seize digital-asset holdings linked to the scheme: 42.378 Bitcoin (BTC), 235.329 Ethereum (ETH), 15.23521 USD Coin (USDC) and 143,273.5712677 Binance USD (BUSD). The assets were valued at about £4.1 million as of 10 November 2025.  

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.”

The CPS said the recovery work involved close collaboration with agencies in the U.S. and Spain, where O’Connor was arrested in Spain in 2021 and later extradited.  

Millions Recovered by CPS

Over the past five years the CPS says it has recovered £478 million through confiscation orders, returning more than £95 million of that to victims of crime.

For casino players in the UK who use crypto, the case is a reminder that digital coins are not invisible money. Investigators were able to trace and freeze O’Connor’s assets, then convert them back into pounds through the courts. The same tools are used to monitor suspicious activity at licensed crypto-friendly casinos and to spot money that might come from fraud or hacks.

Why It Matters For Casino Players

For casino players who use crypto, the case is a reminder that digital coins are not invisible money. Investigators were able to trace and freeze O’Connor’s assets, then convert them back into pounds through the courts. The same tools are used to monitor suspicious activity at licensed crypto-friendly casinos and to spot money that might come from fraud or hacks.

The Twitter hack also echoes how scammers sometimes impersonate casino brands or streamers on social media and push fake “bonus” links. If a deal looks too good to be true or arrives from a hacked account, players risk losing their bankroll long before they ever reach a real casino destination cashier. 

Original Conviction in 2020

The July 2020 hack involved more than 130 verified Twitter accounts.  O’Connor was arrested in July 2021 in Spain and extradited to the U.S. in April 2023.  He pleaded guilty on 9 May 2023 to offences in the Southern District of New York and was sentenced on 23 June 2023 to five years in federal prison.  At sentencing, he was ordered to forfeit at least $794,000 to the victims.  

With this civil recovery order, the U.K. authorities affirm that criminals cannot hide behind international borders or the anonymity of crypto assets. The enforcement action also sets a precedent for tracking down digital-asset proceeds stemming from high-visibility cyber-fraud.