An Alabama man was arrested Thursday for his alleged role in the January hack of a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission social media account that led the price of bitcoin to spike, the Justice Department said.
Eric Council Jr., 25, of Athens, is accused of helping to break into the SEC’s account on X, formerly known as Twitter, allowing the hackers to prematurely announce the approval of long-awaited bitcoin exchange-traded funds.
The price of bitcoin briefly spiked more than $1,000 after the post claimed “The SEC grants approval for #Bitcoin ETFs for listing on all registered national securities exchanges.”
But soon after the initial post appeared, SEC Chairman Gary Gensler said on his personal account that the SEC’s account was compromised. “The SEC has not approved the listing and trading of spot bitcoin exchange-traded products,” Gensler wrote, calling the post unauthorized without providing further explanation.
Authorities say Council carried out what’s known as a “SIM swap,” using a fake ID to impersonate someone with access to the SEC’s X account and convince a cellphone store to give him a SIM card linked to the person’s phone. Council was able to take over the person’s cellphone number and get access codes to the SEC’s X account, which he shared with others who broke into the account and sent the post, the Justice Department says.
Prosecutors say after Council returned the iPhone he used for the SIM swap, his online searches included: “What are the signs that you are under investigation by law enforcement or the FBI even if you have not been contacted by them.”
An email seeking comment was sent Thursday to an attorney for Council, who is charged in Washington’s federal court with conspiracy to commit aggravated identity theft and access device fraud.
The price of bitcoin swung from about $46,730 to just below $48,000 after the unauthorized post hit on Jan. 9 and then dropped to around $45,200 after the SEC’s denial. The SEC officially approved the first exchange-traded funds that hold bitcoin the following day.
—Alanna Durkin Richer, Associated Press
Войдите, чтобы добавить комментарий
Другие сообщения в этой группе

Social media is overflowing with wellness hacks and tips. While some should be avoided at all costs, others may actually be rooted in medicinal practices dating back to the Dark Ages, new research

Elon Musk fought court cases on opposite coasts Monday, raising a question about the billionaire that could either speed his plan to put

Years ago, I spent a lot of time making the case for why IT mattered in large enterprises. It’s fair to say the landscape has changed—dramatically.
Where I once had to argue for IT’s str


It seems the market has spoken when it comes to phones with physical keyboards. BlackBerry exited the mobil

Douglas Rushkoff, the writer and media theorist who chronicled the countercultural spirit of early ’90s online culture in books like

The internet-famous TikTok account Sylvanian Drama is now at the center of a real-