Eric Council Jr., 26, was sentenced Friday to 14 months in prison and three years of supervised release for his role in hacking the official X account of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Council’s cyberattack, executed in collaboration with other hackers, involved a sophisticated SIM swapping scheme designed to manipulate the cryptocurrency market.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the group targeted the cellphone account of an individual who had administrative access to the SEC’s X account. Utilizing this SIM swap method, the hackers gained control over the victim’s telephone number and subsequently reset the agency’s X login credentials. Once in control of the official account, they published a fabricated tweet falsely reporting that the SEC had approved Bitcoin exchange traded funds (ETFs).
This unauthorized announcement swiftly drove up the value of Bitcoin, causing a brief but significant spike in price before the misinformation was identified and corrected. The price of the cryptocurrency fell quickly thereafter.
Council entered a guilty plea acknowledging his involvement in the attack. His sentencing reflects the severity of charges relating directly to his role in the deceptive scheme, which intentionally misled investors and disrupted financial markets.
