TAMPA, Fla. — The teenager accused in a bitcoin scheme which included stealing the identities of Bill Gates, Elon Musk and Barak Obama pleaded not guilty in a Tampa courtroom Tuesday.

Graham Clark, 17, is facing 30 charges of electronic and computer fraud. Clark entered a written plea of not guilty. Clark is scheduled for a bond hearing Wednesday at 9:00 a.m.

Today's hearing took place via video conference over Zoom. Clark's bail remains set at $725,000.


What You Need To Know

  • Tampa teen Graham Ivan Clark arrested, charged in Twitter hack

  • Clark pleaded not guilty Tuesday

  • Hack targeted  accounts of Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Mike Bloomberg, Jeff Bezos

  • Scheme netted more than $100,000 in bitcoin

Hillsborough County State Attorney Andrew Warren said the teen hacked the twitter accounts of prominent people and used their identities to get people to send them payments in bit-coin.

Investigators said Clark routed the crypto-currency to himself, making more than $100,000 on a single day.

The hack happened on July 15.

"This ‘Bit-Con’ was designed to steal money from regular Americans from all over the country, including here in Florida," Warren said in a statement. "This massive fraud was orchestrated right here in our backyard, and we will not stand for that."

The Hillsborough State Attorney’s Office will prosecute Graham Ivan Clark as adult. (Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office)

Under Florida law, Clark. can be prosecuted for the hack as an adult.

Warren said the FBI and Department of Justice will continue to partner on the case as Clark faces prosecution.

Federal officials said Mason Sheppard, 19, of Bognor Regis, U.K., and Nima Fazeli, 22, of Orlando, were also charged in the hack.

Sheppard and Fazeli were charged in California federal court.