A U.S. federal judge sentenced the resident of Alabama to 14 months in prison for his involvement in compromising the Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) social media account on X, formerly Twitter. The hack led to a false announcement about Bitcoin (BTC) ETF approvals that temporarily moved cryptocurrency markets.

Alabama Man Gets 14-Month Sentence for SEC X Account Hack

Eric Council Jr., 26, of Huntsville, Alabama, who pleaded guilty in February to conspiracy to commit aggravated identity theft and access device fraud, will also serve three years of supervised release following his prison term.

According to court documents, Council executed an unauthorized SIM swap to gain control of the SEC's X account. The operation allowed his co-conspirators to post a fabricated announcement in January claiming the SEC had approved Bitcoin ETFs, a decision that market participants had been eagerly anticipating.

“Council and his co-conspirators used sophisticated cyber means to compromise the SEC's X account and posted a false announcement that distorted important financial markets,” said Matthew R. Galeotti, Head of the Justice Department's Criminal Division.

BTC Market Volatility

The false announcement triggered immediate market volatility, with Bitcoin prices initially jumping more than $1,000 before dropping more than $2,000 after the SEC issued a correction. Court records indicate Council received Bitcoin payments for his role in the scheme.

Investigators revealed that Council created a fraudulent identification card using personally identifiable information obtained from co-conspirators. He used this fake ID to impersonate a victim and gain control of their phone number, which provided access to the SEC's social media 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 FBI Criminal Investigative Division Acting Assistant Director Darren Cox.

U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro for the District of Columbia emphasized the broader implications of such schemes, stating they “threaten the health and integrity of our market system” and warned potential perpetrators: “Don't fool yourself into thinking you can't be caught.”