The Associated Press

February 10, 2025, 5:31 PM

An Alabama man admitted Monday to taking part in a January 2024 hack of a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission social media account designed to manipulate the price of bitcoin.

Eric Council Jr., 25, pleaded guilty to an identity theft charge in U.S. District Court in Washington, court records show. His sentencing is set for May.

Council was arrested in October and charged with helping to break into the SEC’s account on X, formerly known as Twitter, allowing unnamed co-conspirators to falsely announce the approval of long-awaited bitcoin exchange-traded funds, prosecutors said.

The price of bitcoin briefly spiked by more than $1,000 after the hacked account posted: “The SEC grants approval for #Bitcoin ETFs for listing on all registered national securities exchanges.”

Soon after the initial post appeared, then-SEC Chairman Gary Gensler said on his personal account that the SEC’s account was compromised. The price of bitcoin swung from about $46,730 to just below $48,000 after the unauthorized post hit on Jan. 9 and then dropped to around $45,200 after the SEC’s denial. The SEC officially approved the first exchange-traded funds that hold bitcoin the following day. Bitcoin has recently been trading around $100,000.

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