The hacker who helped seize control of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) X account, which was then used in a false post that led to a spike in bitcoin, has been sentenced.
Earlier this year, an Alabama man, Eric Council Jr., pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit aggravated identity theft for his role in a scheme to hack the SEC’s account by swapping the SIM card in an SEC official’s phone, and taking over the regulator’s account — which was then used to falsely post that the SEC had approved bitcoin ETFs.
After the fake post, the price of bitcoin surged by more than US$1,000 before the SEC regained control of the account.
“The deliberate takeover of a federal agency’s official communications platform was a calculated criminal act meant to deceive the public and manipulate financial markets,” said Darren Cox, acting assistance director of the FBI’s criminal investigative division, in a release.
“By spreading false information to influence the markets, Council attempted to erode public trust and exploit the financial system,” he added.
Today, Council — who was known online as “Ronin” and “Agiantschnauzer” — was sentenced to 14 months in prison, and three years of supervised release, for his role in the conspiracy. He was also ordered to forfeit the US$50,000 he was paid for carrying out the SIM swap.