FBI Arrests Man Who Allegedly Hacked SEC Account X in January and Prematurely Announced Bitcoin ETF Approval

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on Thursday arrested an Alabama man believed to be behind the hacking of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) account on social media platform X last January .

The U.S. Department of Justice says Eric Council Jr. is accused of conspiring with others to gain unauthorized control of the SEC’s X Account and fraudulently using the name of SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, to prematurely announce the approval of the Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF). .

According to X, the regulator has not implemented multi-factor authentication (MFA) for its profile.

The false announcement caused the price of Bitcoin to increase by more than $1,000 and then drop by more than $2,000 after the SEC took back control of his X account and declared the statement unauthorized and resulting from a security breach.

The Council allegedly carried out the hack via unauthorized subscriber identity module (SIM) swapping, which involves fraudulently inducing a mobile operator to reassign another person’s contact number to a SIM card controlled by the bad actor.

The defendant allegedly used the stolen identity of a person with access to SEC account Bitcoin ETFs.

According to Chad Yarbrough, deputy director of the FBI’s Criminal Investigation Division,

“The defendant allegedly misled the public by posing as the victim and making fraudulent statements on behalf of the SEC. The FBI and our partners will continue to investigate and hold accountable those who attempt to manipulate financial markets for their own gain. »

Council is charged with one count of conspiracy to commit aggravated identity theft and access device fraud. He faces up to five years in prison.

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