On February 10, according to Cointelegraph, the U.S. government has proposed a plea agreement for Eric Council Jr., who is accused of assisting in the intrusion into the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) X account in January 2024.
In a document submitted to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on February 9, 2025, federal prosecutors have proposed a forfeiture order requiring him to pay $50,000, which he "personally obtained" from posting a message on X that implied the SEC had approved the first Bitcoin spot ETF. The alleged hacker will also plead guilty to a conspiracy charge involving aggravated identity theft and device access fraud.
Council is a member of an organization that temporarily controlled the SEC's X account through a SIM card swap attack in January 2024. This breach allowed the hackers to post a false message containing an image of then-SEC Chair Gary Gensler announcing the approval of a Bitcoin spot ETF.
