Hacker Jailed for Triggering $3,000 Bitcoin Swing in SEC X Account Breach

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The hacker, Eric Council Jr., was sentenced to 14 months in jail and forfeited $50,000. A hacker exploited a SIM swap to hijack the SEC’s X account, posting pretend Bitcoin ETF approval. The false publish quickly induced Bitcoin to surge over $1,000 earlier than crashing $2,000. A surprising cyber breach involving the U.S. Securities and Change Fee (SEC) shook the crypto markets earlier this yr. Now, the person behind the manipulation has been sentenced to jail. The case highlights each the facility of social media over monetary markets and the rising hazard of SIM swap fraud within the crypto world.

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Sentencing Sends a Message to Crypto Criminals Eric Council Jr., a 26-year-old from Athens, Alabama, was sentenced on Might 16, 2025 to 14 months in jail and ordered to lose his $50,000 fraud-related earnings. With limitations together with a prohibition on utilizing the darkish internet or carrying on extra identity-related crimes on-line, he will even have three years of supervised launch.

The sentence was introduced by U.S. Lawyer Jeanine Ferris Pirro , Head of the Justice Division’s Felony Division Matthew R. Galeotti, SEC Inspector Basic Deborah Jeffrey, and FBI Assistant Director in Cost Steven J. Jensen of the Washington Area Workplace.

U.S. prosecutors emphasised that Council’s actions not solely manipulated the market but additionally undermined belief in monetary establishments. FBI officers warned that digital anonymity doesn't assure security from legislation enforcement and vowed to proceed cracking down on cybercrime rings focusing on crypto.

Hacker Exploits SEC to Spike Bitcoin Worth In January 2024, Council was a part of a SIM swapping ring that hijacked the official X (previously Twitter) account of the SEC. The intrusion was utilized to publish a false launch saying Bitcoin spot ETFs had been licensed; this assertion induced Bitcoin’s value to rise by greater than $1,000 in minutes.

Merchants responding to what appeared to be official regulatory information induced turmoil available in the market from the quick value fluctuation. However the SEC refuted the assertion and took again management of its account inside hours, subsequently inflicting a fast $2,000 fall in Bitcoin’s worth. The swing uncovered how fragile market sentiment will be, particularly when pushed by manipulated headlines from supposedly trusted sources.

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The SIM Swap Methodology Behind the Assault Pretend IDs and iPhones: A Playbook for Crypto Fraud In keeping with court docket paperwork, Council executed a complicated SIM swap assault to realize entry to the SEC’s cell phone line. Utilizing a pretend ID, he impersonated a buyer at an AT&T retailer in Huntsville, Alabama, and tricked staff into handing him a brand new SIM card linked to the SEC’s telephone quantity.

He inserted the SIM right into a newly bought iPhone, acquired password reset codes for the @SECGov X account, and snapped a photograph of the codes to ship to his co-conspirators. Council then returned the iPhone for a money refund. The fraud was coordinated, deliberate, and timed to take advantage of crypto market volatility.

Additional investigation revealed Council had templates for pretend IDs on his laptop computer, a conveyable ID card printer, and even performed Google searches on “the right way to know if the FBI is investigating you” and “telegram sim swap.” Authorities concluded that Council was compensated roughly $50,000 for his function within the scheme.

A Wake-Up Name for Crypto and Regulators This incident has intensified scrutiny of cybersecurity practices at high regulatory businesses just like the SEC. Critics argue that the vulnerability exploited by Council—a SIM swap—is a identified risk that ought to have been mitigated by stronger multi-factor authentication and device-level safety protocols.

For crypto merchants, it’s a sobering reminder: markets stay extremely delicate to info—actual or pretend. And as regulators put together for broader ETF approvals and digital asset integration, the stress to safe communications channels is extra pressing than ever.

As Bitcoin continues to hover in risky territory, the dangers of manipulation—whether or not from social media hacks or insider schemes—stay a urgent concern for institutional and retail traders alike.