Alabama man pleads guilty in hacking of SEC social media account, boosting bitcoin value
Feb. 10 (UPI) -- An Alabama man on Monday pleaded guilty to hacking into the Securities and Exchange Committee's social media account and posting a false message in January 2024.
Eric Council Jr., 25, of Athens, posted a fraudulent message in the name of then-SEC Chairman Gary Gensler on X, temporarily causing the value of each bitcoin to increase by more than $1,000, the Department of Justice said.
He was arrested in October 2024.
In the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit aggravated identity theft and access device fraud.
Council is scheduled to be sentenced on May 16 by Judge Amy Berman Jackson and faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison.
He was released into his parents' custody on a $5,000 bond after his arrest.
According to court documents, the post falsely announced that the SEC approved BTC Exchange Traded Funds, a decision highly anticipated by the market. One day later, the SEC approved bitcoin to be a part of mainstream investment through spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds.
Shortly after this unauthorized post, the SEC regained control over its X account and confirmed that the announcement was false and the result of a security breach. The value of BTC decreased by more than $2,000 per bitcoin.
SEC ACCOUNT WAS HACKED pic.twitter.com/EhOrPRwG3b— Bitcoin Archive (@BTC_Archive) January 9, 2024
Council, along with other conspirators, gained control of the SEC's X account through an unauthorized Subscriber Identity Module swap. This is a process of fraudulently inducing a cellphone carrier to reassign a phone number from the legitimate subscriber or user's SIM card to a SIM card controlled by the criminal
Council used an identification card printer to create a fraudulent identification card with a victim's personally identifiable information obtained from his co-conspirators, DOJ said.
By impersonating the victim, he gained access to the victim's phone number to access the SEC's account.
Council received payment in bitcoin from his co-conspirators for his role.
The FBI Washington Field Office and SEC Office of Inspector General investigated the case.
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