Alabama Man Sentenced to 14 Months for SEC Social Media Hack
A 26-year-old man from Alabama, Eric Council Jr., has been sentenced to 14 months in prison for his involvement in a hack of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's X account.
Key details include:
- Council pleaded guilty to charges related to a January 2024 hack.
- He used a SIM-swap technique to hijack a phone number linked to the SEC’s account.
- False posts claimed approval of spot bitcoin ETFs, causing a price surge of over $1,000.
- Bitcoin's value later dropped by more than $2,000 when the post was revealed as fake.
- The SEC approved spot bitcoin ETFs later that month.
- Council was compensated in bitcoin for his involvement.
- He will also face three years of supervised release after his prison term.
Federal prosecutors described the incident as a calculated attempt to manipulate financial markets, undermining public trust in the system.