The Alabama man on Monday admitted to join the Securities and Exchange Commission’s social media account hack in January 2024 designed to manipulate Bitcoin prices.
Eric Council Jr., 25, pleaded guilty to a charge of identity theft in Washington’s U.S. District Court, court records show. His ruling is set for May.
Council was arrested in October and helped infiltrate SEC accounts on X, previously known as Twitter, with the nameless co-conspirator misleading approval of the long-awaited Bitcoin exchange trade funds prosecutors said they allowed it.
Bitcoin prices were temporarily spiked at over $1,000 after the hacked account was posted.
Shortly after the first post was published, then-SEC Chairman Gary Gensler said on his personal account that the SEC account had been breached. Bitcoin prices fell just below $48,000 from around $46,730 after an unauthorized post hit on January 9th, and dropped to about $45,200 after the SEC’s rejection. The SEC officially approved the first exchange trade funds to hold Bitcoin the following day. Bitcoin has recently traded around $100,000.
Council will do what is called “SIM swaps”, impersonate someone who can access SEC’s X accounts using fake IDs, and provide a SIM card linked to a person’s phone to a mobile phone store He persuaded him to do so, prosecutors said. The council was able to take over the person’s mobile number and obtain an access code to the SEC X account. He shared it with others who broke into his account and sent out the post, the Department of Justice said.
Prosecutors said the council was paid by Bitcoin co-conspirators and made around $50,000 as part of the scheme. Before the arrest, prosecutors said the council’s internet search history includes “a sure to know if it’s being investigated by the FBI” and “federal identity theft laws.” Ta.