A British man suspected of hacking celebrity Twitter accounts has been granted permission by a Spanish court to be extradited to the US.
In Estepona, a city in southern Spain, police detained Liverpool native Joseph James O'Connor in July 2021.
In connection with the hacking of more than 130 accounts in July 2020, including those of Barack Obama and Joe Biden, the US president, he is facing a number of charges.
Also compromised were the accounts of Elon Musk, Kanye West, and Bill Gates.
A court statement stated that all necessary conditions had been satisfied for Mr. O'Connor to be turned over to US authorities on 14 charges, including the alleged crimes of divulging trade secrets, involvement in a criminal gang, unauthorized access to computer systems, internet fraud, money laundering, and extortion.
He is allegedly wanted by judges in the Southern District of New York and the Northern District of California.
US authorities claim that Mr. O'Connor took control of the Twitter accounts and then asked their followers to send bitcoin to a particular account in exchange for a guarantee that their money would be doubled.
According to Spain's National Court, he is also suspected of breaking into a public figure's Snapchat account and threatening to publish lewd photos of the individual unless he was paid money.
Mr. O'Connor is also wanted in connection with several alleged instances of "swatting," which refers to making nefarious calls to emergency services with the intention of deceiving them into sending the police to different locations. .
The 23-year-old, also known as Plugwalk Joe, was the subject of a US extradition request, and it was claimed that the "necessary conditions" had been satisfied for Spain to grant it.
The court rejected Mr. O'Connor's attorneys' claims that the servers he used were located in Spain, so he should be tried there.
Although it typically follows the court's orders, Spain's cabinet must approve the extradition.
The extradition can be challenged by Mr. O'Connor.
I don't care - they can come and arrest me, he said to the New York Times before being detained.
"I would mock them. Nothing has been done by me. ".
A Florida teen accused of planning the attacks was given a three-year juvenile prison sentence by a US court in 2021 as part of a plea deal.
Graham Ivan Clark was charged at the age of 17, and due to his juvenile status, his case was moved to a Florida state court.
