A Florida teenager who hacked into the Twitter accounts of certain well-known people has been sentenced to three years in juvenile prison in a plea agreement.

Graham Ivan Clark (18) was the brains behind a July 2020 hack of Twitter accounts of Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Barack Obama, Joe Biden and others.

Hillsborough County State Attorney Andrew Warren said Clark would serve the maximum allowed under Florida's Youthful Offender Act – three years in a juvenile prison followed by three years’ probation.

Hijacked

The hijacked celebrity accounts then asked followers to send bitcoin to an account, promising to double their money.

"He took over the accounts of famous people, but the money he stole came from regular, hard-working people," Mr Warren said.

"Graham Clark needs to be held accountable for that crime, and other potential scammers out there need to be aware of the consequences."

The scam yielded some $100,000 and affected at least 130 accounts.