The hacker who briefly took control of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) X (formerly Twitter) account last year and falsely posted that the regulator was poised to approve crypto ETFs, has pled guilty for his role in the scheme.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) announced that Eric Council Jr., 25, of Athens, Ga., pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit aggravated identity theft and access device fraud, in connection with the SEC account takeover in January 2024.
According to court filings, the SEC’s account was compromised by a SIM swap on an SEC official’s phone that was carried out by Council Jr., which gave him and co-conspirators control over personal information, which they used to gain access to the SEC’s X account.
After falsely posting that the SEC had approved bitcoin ETFs, the price of bitcoin jumped by over US$1,000, before the SEC regained control of the account and confirmed that the announcement was false.
Council, who is now scheduled to be sentenced on May 16, faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison, the DoJ said.
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