The National Court has agreed to the request of the United States authorities to extradite a 23-year-old British man who allegedly participated in various computer attacks such as the hacking, in July 2020, of numerous Twitter accounts such as those of Joe Biden , Barack Obama or Bill Gates, the extortion of another personality through their social networks or the commission of different robberies through the Internet.
In an order, the magistrates of the Second Section consider that the necessary requirements are met to proceed with the surrender of Joseph James O’Connor, alias ‘Plugwalk Joe’, for fourteen criminal charges in the United States that in Spain would be equivalent to the crimes of discovery and disclosure of secrets, belonging to a criminal organization, extortion, illegal access to computer systems, computer fraud and money laundering.
The Chamber rejects all the arguments put forward by the defendant’s defense, including the disproportionality of the sentences to which he could be sentenced in the United States or that the jurisdiction for the prosecution would fall to the Spanish courts since the computer servers used are in Spain.
The magistrates argue that not only is it that no criminal proceedings have been instituted in Spain against the defendant, but that the United States is in a better position to prosecute the facts since the evidence obtained in the investigation is found there and because it is the place where the damage has been caused. Regarding the other allegation, they point out that it is not up to them to criticize the penalty that the claimant State applies to it.
The documentation provided by the United States recounts the numerous computer attacks in which O’Connor, arrested in July 2021 in Estepona (Málaga), allegedly participated, including the aforementioned against 130 Twitter accounts such as those of Biden, Obama and Bill Gates. In addition, he describes the hacking of the Snapchat account of a public figure whom he tried to extort and harass by threatening to spread nude photos of him.
The defendant is also linked to several incidents of swatting, that is, false calls to generate an emergency response from law enforcement under false pretenses. In these communications, the defendant allegedly notified the Police of various false threats that mobilized the agents, including blowing up an airport or the communication that an armed and dangerous individual wanted to kill his wife and children.
In addition to the above facts, the American authorities requested an extension of the extradition with new charges that included various computer intrusions with the aim of stealing money and cryptocurrencies, which were later laundered through transfers and transactions.
Among the fourteen charges that the United States attributes to the defendant, the order explains, is “harassment, that is, with the intent to harm, harass, and cause significant emotional distress to a person in another state, using interstate and foreign commerce facilities.” , including an interactive computer service and an electronic communication service, to engage in conduct that causes the victim significant emotional distress and places the victim in reasonable fear of death or serious bodily injury.”
The resolution of the National High Court, against which an appeal can be made before the Plenary of the Criminal Chamber, agrees to hand over Joseph James O’Connor for trial for the charges of which he is accused in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California and the Southern District of New York
