San Francisco, Aug 6 (IANS): In a bizarre incident, a virtual court hearing for a teenage hacker who is accused (along with two others) of compromising the Twitter accounts of 130 high-profile users itself fell victim to zoombombing when a set of hackers started playing porn clips and loud music during the proceedings.
According to media reports, Hillsborough Circuit Judge Christopher C Nash was forced to shut down the online hearing after someone broadcast pornographic material during the proceedings over the Zoom video meet app.
Posing as CNN and BBC News, the uninvited guests repeatedly interrupted the virtual court hearing with rap music, movie dialogue, shouting and pornographic content, reports The Tampa Bay Times.
Graham Ivan Clark, 17, has been charged, along with two more young individuals, by the US Department of Justice with hacking Twitter last month that compromised the accounts of 130 high-profile celebrities, politicians and businesses like Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Apple and Uber.
The judge later resumed the hearing, "but people using screen names that resembled employees at media outlets like CNN and BBC News continued to interrupt the proceedings".
The judge eventually ruled against the request to lower Clark's bail.
Under Florida law, it took 10 per cent of the $750,000 bail set — $72,500 — to free Clark pending trial.
He faces state charges because he is a juvenile, according to the federal authorities.
Clark faces 17 counts of communications fraud, 11 counts of fraudulent use of personal information and one count each of organised fraud.
The 19-year-old Mason Sheppard (aka "Chaewon") of the UK has been charged in a criminal complaint in the Northern District of California with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and the intentional access of a protected computer.
"Nima Fazeli, aka "Rolex," 22, of Orlando, Florida, was charged in a criminal complaint in the Northern District of California with aiding and abetting the intentional access of a protected computer," the Department of Justice said in a statement last week.