A 26-year-old man from Alabama has been sentenced to greater than a yr in jail for his position in a social media hack that briefly despatched the value of bitcoin
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Eric Council Jr. of Huntsville pleaded responsible to expenses tied to the January 2024 hack of the U.S. Securities and Alternate Fee’s X account, in keeping with a U.S. Division of Justice press launch.
Posing as a telecom buyer utilizing a fraudulent ID, Council used a SIM-swap approach to hijack a cellphone quantity tied to the SEC’s account. His co-conspirators then used it to falsely put up that the company had accredited spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), a long-awaited regulatory milestone.
Inside minutes, the value of bitcoin surged by greater than $1,000. It crashed quickly after, dropping greater than $2,000 in worth as soon as the put up was revealed as faux. The SEC did later that month approve the launch of spot bitcoin ETFs.
Authorities say Council was paid in bitcoin for his position. He’ll serve 14 months in jail adopted by three years of supervised launch.
Federal prosecutors known as the assault a calculated try to govern monetary markets. “The deliberate takeover of a federal agency’s official communications platform was a calculated criminal act meant to deceive the public and manipulate financial markets,” stated Appearing FBI Assistant Director Darren Cox. “By spreading false information to influence the markets, Council attempted to erode public trust and exploit the financial system”
