Federal prosecutors are looking forward to securing a plea deal for an Alabama man named Eric Council Jr., who allegedly accessed and manipulated the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s X account to cause a spike. It is said that there is sex. at the price of Bitcoin.
The plea deal was announced on October 25th, meaning U.S. Attorney Kevin Rosenberg told U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson. However, it is still unclear whether Council 25 will agree to the deal.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) arrested Council last week while investigating the October hacking attack. According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, Council allegedly used a SIM swap attack to gain unauthorized access to the SEC’s X account, through which it posted false messages that influenced the cryptocurrency market. This led to a $1,000 surge in Bitcoin as investors struggled to evaluate this news given the positive sentiment towards the expected approval of a physical Bitcoin ETF.
They quickly took control of the account and revealed that the message they were given was a scam, causing Bitcoin to wipe out more than $2,000 in profits in a matter of minutes. These price movements are indicative of market volatility due to the constant debate regarding the Spot Bitcoin ETF, which was later approved and sent Bitcoin to the $73,000 level.
Council was charged with conspiracy to commit device fraud and aggravated identity theft, according to investigators who discovered that he was paid in Bitcoin for orchestrating the SIM swap attack. This incident exposes weaknesses in well-known social media profiles and applies to any industry as sensitive as cryptocurrency.
The SEC’s X account hack and all its aftermath shows how important social media is in the crypto market. Looking ahead, as federal prosecutors move forward with the case, this case will continue to be a prime example of the potential dangers of digital finance and the need for proper security.
