Federal authorities have arrested an Alabama man accused of participating in the hack of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) X account earlier this year.
Eric Council Jr. faces charges related to the January 9 hack, during which a post was published on the SEC’s X account falsely claiming the approval of Bitcoin ETFs on U.S. securities exchanges. This false announcement led to a $1,000 surge in Bitcoin’s price, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.
The indictment alleges that Council, along with unidentified co-conspirators, carried out a SIM swap on the phone of a person, referred to as “C.L.,” who had access to the SEC X account. It is claimed that Council received payments for performing SIM swaps, including the one involved in this hack.
On the day of the breach, Council allegedly received instructions from a co-conspirator on how to execute the SIM swap, along with personal information of the target. Council reportedly went to an AT&T store, using a fake ID he created to impersonate C.L. and claim to be an FBI agent in need of a replacement SIM card.
After purchasing a new iPhone, Council allegedly used it to receive a reset code for the @SECGov X account, which he forwarded to a co-conspirator who then posted the fraudulent Bitcoin ETF approval message. Following the hack, Council returned the iPhone for cash in Birmingham, Alabama.
Prosecutors also revealed that Council conducted several suspicious Google searches, including inquiries about the SEC hack, SIM swaps, and signs of FBI investigations.
Council now faces charges of conspiracy to commit aggravated identity theft and access device fraud.
