Federal authorities introduced Thursday the arrest of a person in Alabama, accusing him of taking part within the hack of the U.S. Securities and Trade Fee X account earlier this yr.
Eric Council Jr. was indicted in reference to the SEC X account hack, which occurred on January 9, when the account revealed a publish falsely saying that the Fee had authorized Bitcoin ETFs to be listed in securities exchanges within the nation, a publish that elevated the value of Bitcoin by $1,000, in keeping with a press launch by the U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace within the District of Columbia.
In keeping with the indictment in opposition to Council, he labored with different unnamed co-conspirators to carry out a SIM swap on the cellphone account of an individual who had entry to the SEC X account, solely recognized as “C.L.”. Authorities alleged that Council obtained funds for performing SIM swaps, such because the one which led to the SEC X account hack.
On January 9, a co-conspirator despatched Council directions on methods to SIM swap the cellphone of the particular person with entry to the SEC account on X, in addition to the personally figuring out data of the particular person. Council then traveled to an AT&T retailer with a faux identification card for C.L. that he himself designed and printed, and claimed to be an FBI agent who had damaged his cellphone and wanted a brand new SIM card.
Council purchased a brand new iPhone to carry out the SIM swap, then used the cellphone to obtain a reset code for the @SECGov account on X, and despatched this code to a co-conspirator who hacked into the @SECGov account and posted the false publish in query, the indictment claims. At that time, Council returned the iPhone for money in Birmingham, Alabama, the indictment says.
Prosecutors wrote within the indictment that Council carried out a number of Google searches, similar to: “SECGOV hack,” “telegram sim swap,” “how can I do know for certain if I’m being investigated by the FBI,” and “What are the indicators that you’re beneath investigation by legislation enforcement or the FBI even in case you have not been contacted by them,” and “what are some indicators that the FBl is after you.”
Council was charged with conspiracy to commit aggravated identification theft and entry machine fraud.
