Feds arrest man who allegedly participated in hack of the SEC's X account, boosting Bitcoin's price

10/18/2024 00:51

Federal authorities announced Thursday the arrest of a man in Alabama, accusing him of participating in the hack of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission X account earlier this year. Eric Council Jr. was indicted in connection with the SEC X account hack, which happened on January 9, when the account published a post falsely announcing that the Commission had approved Bitcoin ETFs to be listed in securities exchanges in the country, a post that increased the price of Bitcoin by $1,000, according to a press release by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the District of Columbia. According to the indictment against Council, he worked with other unnamed co-conspirators to perform a SIM swap on the phone account of a person who had access to the SEC X account, only identified as “C.L.”.

Federal authorities announced Thursday the arrest of a man in Alabama, accusing him of participating in the hack of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission X account earlier this year.

Eric Council Jr. was indicted in connection with the SEC X account hack, which happened on January 9, when the account published a post falsely announcing that the Commission had approved Bitcoin ETFs to be listed in securities exchanges in the country, a post that increased the price of Bitcoin by $1,000, according to a press release by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the District of Columbia.

According to the indictment against Council, he worked with other unnamed co-conspirators to perform a SIM swap on the phone account of a person who had access to the SEC X account, only identified as “C.L.”. Authorities alleged that Council received payments for performing SIM swaps, such as the one that led to the SEC X account hack.

On January 9, a co-conspirator sent Council instructions on how to SIM swap the phone of the person with access to the SEC account on X, as well as the personally identifying information of the person. Council then traveled to an AT&T store with a fake identity card for C.L. that he himself designed and printed, and claimed to be an FBI agent who had broken his phone and needed a new SIM card.

<span class="wp-element-caption__text">A screenshot of the fake SEC post published by hackers who took over control of the @SECGov X account on January 9, 2024. </span> — A screenshot of the fake SEC post published by hackers who took over control of the @SECGov X account on January 9, 2024.

Council bought a new iPhone to perform the SIM swap, then used the phone to receive a reset code for the @SECGov account on X, and sent this code to a co-conspirator who hacked into the @SECGov account and posted the false post in question, the indictment claims. At that point, Council returned the iPhone for cash in Birmingham, Alabama, the indictment says.

Prosecutors wrote in the indictment that Council performed several Google searches, such as: “SECGOV hack,” “telegram sim swap,” “how can I know for sure if I am being investigated by the FBI,” and “What are the signs that you are under investigation by law enforcement or the FBI even if you have not been contacted by them,” and “what are some signs that the FBl is after you.”

Council was charged with conspiracy to commit aggravated identity theft and access device fraud.