Eric Council Jr. of Alabama pleaded guilty to helping hijack the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s X account and was sentenced in May 2025 to 14 months in prison, three years of supervised release and $50,000 in forfeiture. The January 2024 takeover used a fraudulent identity document and a SIM swap to obtain the phone number associated with the account; it did not involve access to SEC systems, according to the agency.
What happened to the SEC’s X account?
On Jan. 9, 2024, someone gained unauthorized access to the SEC’s official account on X, formerly Twitter. At 4:11 p.m. Eastern Time, the account falsely announced that the Commission had approved spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs). About two minutes later, it posted “$BTC.”
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SEC Chair Gary Gensler warned at 4:26 p.m. that the account had been compromised and that the approval announcement was false. The SEC said it ended unauthorized access between 4:40 and 5:30 p.m. and deleted the post. The agency’s incident account said the takeover happened shortly after 4 p.m.
The post was not an SEC decision. The Commission says its actions are posted on SEC.gov and then in the Federal Register; social-media posts amplify those official announcements.
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How did the attackers take control?
The SEC’s investigation found that the phone number linked to the account was taken over through the telecommunications carrier, rather than through access to SEC systems. The agency reported no evidence that the attackers accessed SEC systems, data, devices or other social-media accounts.
The alleged SIM-swap chain
- According to the Justice Department, Council and co-conspirators created a fraudulent identification document using another person’s personal information.
- Council allegedly used the document to impersonate that person and persuade a mobile carrier to transfer the person’s phone number to a SIM card controlled by the conspirators.
- The conspirators used the number to access the SEC’s X account and publish the false ETF announcement.
A SIM swap is a fraudulent transfer of a phone number from its legitimate subscriber’s SIM to a SIM controlled by someone else. In this case, the carrier transfer—not a breach of SEC computer systems—was the route investigators identified for taking over the number.
What the SEC said about authentication
The SEC said multi-factor authentication (MFA) had previously been enabled on the account, but X Support disabled it in July 2023 at SEC staff’s request because of access problems. The agency said MFA was re-enabled after the compromise. That history describes the account’s security setup; it does not change the SEC’s finding that the phone-number takeover happened through the carrier.
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The Justice Department said Council used an identification-card printer and received payment in bitcoin. In its sentencing account, prosecutors said agents recovered a fake ID, a portable ID printer, a laptop and templates for additional IDs. They also cited searches including “SECGOV hack” and “telegram sim swap.” These are details presented by prosecutors from court materials; Council’s guilty plea and sentence are the case’s later legal outcome.
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| Date | Case milestone |
|---|---|
| Jan. 9, 2024 | The SEC’s X account was compromised and the false ETF-approval post appeared. |
| Oct. 10, 2024 | A federal grand jury returned an indictment charging one count of conspiracy to commit aggravated identity theft and access-device fraud. |
| Oct. 17, 2024 | The FBI arrested Council in Athens, Alabama. |
| Feb. 10, 2025 | Council pleaded guilty. |
| May 16, 2025 | Council was sentenced to 14 months in prison, three years of supervised release and $50,000 in forfeiture. |
The Justice Department’s arrest release described Council as 25 and living in Athens; its sentencing release described him as 26 and of Huntsville. Athens was the arrest location, while Huntsville was the later residence description.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How much did bitcoin move?
The Justice Department’s arrest, plea and sentencing releases each reported that bitcoin rose by more than $1,000 per bitcoin after the false announcement and fell by more than $2,000 after the SEC correction. Those figures describe the reported reaction around this incident; they are not a measure of lasting market impact or proof that the post alone explains every price movement.
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