An Alabama man has been sentenced to jail for his involvement in hacking the US Securities and Alternate Fee’s official X account.
The person, Eric Council Jr., 26, also called ‘Ronin’ and ‘Agiantschnauzer’, was arrested in October 2024 and pled responsible in February 2025 to his position in taking on the account to publish fraudulent posts about Bitcoin.
In response to paperwork offered in court docket, in January 2024, Council and his co-conspirators took over the @SECgov X account utilizing a SIM swapping assault.
Utilizing a conveyable ID card printer, Council created a bodily ID he then utilized in an AT&T retailer to persuade an worker to switch the cellphone quantity related to the SEC X account to a brand new SIM card.
Utilizing a newly bought iPhone and the SIM card, he then requested a reset code for the account’s password, which he despatched to his co-conspirators. He then returned the iPhone for money.
One other particular person concerned within the conspiracy used the reset code to entry the @SECgov X account and put up fraudulent messages within the identify of the fee’s chairman, asserting the approval of Bitcoin Alternate Traded Funds (ETFs), which resulted within the worth of Bitcoin growing by greater than $1,000.
The SEC regained management of the account shortly after, introduced the safety breach and confirmed that the posts have been fraudulent, which resulted in Bitcoin’s worth dropping by over $2,000.
In June 2024, the FBI searched Council’s residence in Athens, Alabama, recovering a faux ID card, a conveyable ID card printer, and a laptop computer.Commercial. Scroll to proceed studying.
When looking out the laptop computer, investigators discovered templates for extra faux IDs, in addition to incriminating web searchers, together with some for “SECGOV hack” and “telegram sim swap”.
Council admitted in court docket to further SIM swapping makes an attempt in June 2024. He additionally admitted to receiving roughly $50,000 to carry out the SIM swapping assault.
Council was sentenced to 14 months in jail and three years of supervised launch, and ordered to forfeit $50,000.
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