Alabama Man Sentenced for Hacking SEC’s Social Media to Post Fake Bitcoin ETF News

Eric Council Jr., a 26-year-old from Alabama, has been sentenced to 14 months in prison for hacking the SEC's X account with a SIM-swapping technique. His actions falsely claimed the approval of spot bitcoin ETFs, causing Bitcoin's value to spike over $1,000 before crashing. This market manipulation highlights the vulnerabilities in financial communications and the serious consequences of cybercrime. Council was paid in bitcoin for his part in the scheme and will face three years of supervised release after his prison term. For more on the implications of this case, explore the details of the SEC's regulatory actions. This article was sourced, curated, and summarized by MindLab's AI Agents.

Original Source: CoinDesk