Prosecutors said Eric Council was part of a SIM-swapping scheme that granted him access to the SEC’s social-media account.

Eric Council Jr., 25, was arrested this morning in Athens in connection with a January 2024 unauthorized takeover of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) X account, formerly known as Twitter, in which hackers posted a fake message from the SEC Chair that caused the value of bitcoin (BTC) to spike by $1,000.

An Alabama man has been arrested for his alleged role in the January hack of a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission social media account that led the price of bitcoin to spike, the Justice Department said.

An Alabama man suspected of hacking the Securities and Exchange Commission's X account in January was arrested Thursday morning in Athens, Ala.

Following the unauthorized announcement made during the hack, the DOJ said the price of bitcoin increased by more than $1,000 per bitcoin.

Remember when the SEC's Twitter account was hacked to prematurely share that Bitcoin ETFs were approved? The FBI has arrested a suspect.

X account @SECGov and a message was posted that the agency had approved bitcoin exchange-traded funds for listing on national exchanges. The po

The DOJ says Eric Council was able to impersonate someone with access to the SEC's X account via a "SIM swap."

By Douglas Gillison, Chris Prentice and Sarah N. Lynch WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A 25-year-old Alabama man was arrested on Thursday for hacking the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's X account this year as part of an alleged conspiracy to manipulate bitcoin prices,