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Feds arrest man who allegedly participated in hack of the SEC’s X account, boosting Bitcoin’s price

Eric Council Jr. and unnamed co-conspirators were allegedly behind the hack of the official @SECGov account on X.

Federal authorities announced Thursday the arrest of a man in Alabama, accusing him of participating in the hack of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission X account earlier this year. Eric Council Jr. was indicted in connection with the SEC X account hack, which happened on January 9, when the account published a post falsely announcing that the Commission had approved Bitcoin ETFs to be listed in securities exchanges in the country, a post that increased the price of Bitcoin by $1,000, according to a press release by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the District of Columbia. Authorities alleged that Council received payments for performing SIM swaps, such as the one that led to the SEC X account hack.

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