A man from Alabama has pleaded guilty for hacking into the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) X Account last year and could face up to five-years in prison.
According to the Department of Justice, Eric Council Jr. (25), conspired in January 2024 with others to hijack the SEC’s X-account and announce prematurely the approval of Bitcoin exchange traded funds (ETFs) for spot (BTC).
After the SEC regained its control over the X account, and declared that the announcement was unauthorized as a result of a breach of security, the fake ETF announced caused Bitcoin’s price to rise by $1,000. It then dropped by $2,000 when the SEC regained the control. Soon after the incident, the regulator approved spot Bitcoin ETFs.
DOJ claims that Council committed the hack by using an unauthorised SIM swap. This involves convincing a phone carrier to fraudulently reassign a SIM controlled by bad actors with another person’s number.
Council received Bitcoin for using the identity of a person with access to SEC’s X Account. The DOJ then alleges his co-conspirators were responsible for the fraudulent post.
In May, the Alabama man is due to be sentenced for conspiracy to commit identity theft aggravated and fraud involving access devices. The Alabama man faces up to 5 years of prison.
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Sources of Images include Pixabay Creative Commons & Midjourney
This article Man Pleads guilty to Hacking SEC X Official Account and Falsely Claim Regulator Approved Bitcoin ETFS appeared first on the ICD.
