Eric council jr. Sentenced in Hack of SEC X Account that Spiked the Value of Bitcoin

WASHINGTON – Eric Council Jr., 26 of Athens, Alabama, was sentenced today to 14 months in prison for his role in a conspiracy that hacked into the X account of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and published fraudulent posts in the name of the then-SEC Chairman, all to manipulate the value of Bitcoin.

The sentence was announced by U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro, Head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division Matthew R. Galeotti, SEC Inspector General Deborah Jeffrey, and FBI Special Agent in Charge Sean Ryan of the Washington Field Office Criminal and Cyber Division.

According to court documents, from at least January 2024, Council conspired with others to carry out Subscriber Identity Model (SIM) attacks, commonly referred to as “SIM swaps,” in exchange for money.

A member of the conspiracy used the reset code to gain access to the @SECGov X account and issue a fraudulent post in the name of the then-SEC Chairman, falsely announcing SEC approval of Bitcoin (BTC) Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs). The price of BTC increased by more than $1,000 following the post. Shortly after, the SEC regained control over their X account and confirmed that the announcement was unauthorized and the result of a security breach, which caused the value of BTC to decrease by more than $2,000