An Alabama man has been given a 14-month prison sentence for his part in a scheme that hacked into the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) Twitter-like X account and momentarily inflated Bitcoin's price. Eric Council Jr., 26, from Athens, was implicated in executing SIM swap attacks to obtain unauthorized access to the SEC's official social media account, as detailed by the U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro and other federal officials, according to a recent report from the U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Columbia.
Court documents state that Council, in conspiracy with others, performed a SIM swap to gain unauthorized access to the account associated with the SEC, where he, after successfully impersonating the account's owner at an AT&T store and purchasing a new iPhone to receive the account’s password reset codes, which he also shared with his co-conspirators returned the iPhone for cash afterward to conceal his tracks. As per the U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Columbia, a fraudulent post was then made falsely announcing the SEC's endorsement of Bitcoin ETFs, leading to a surge in Bitcoin's value by over $1,000.
This incident quickly prompted a response from the SEC, which regained control of their X account and clarified that the post was the result of a security breach. Following this correction, Bitcoin's value took a dive, tumbling more than $2,000, as reported by the Justice Department's announcement. Federal authorities are continuing their investigation into the matter to bring all involved parties to justice, as SEC Inspector General Deborah Jeffrey expressed a commitment to ensuring the integrity of the SEC’s systems and information.
