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Federal prosecutors are considering a plea deal offer for Eric Council Jr., the Alabama man recently arrested for hacking into the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's x account.
Bloomberg x-account” target=”_blank” rel=”nofollow”>reported on the latest development in the SEC x account hack on Friday, October 25.
According to Bloomberg, U.S. Attorney Kevin Rosenberg told District Judge Amy Berman Jackson in a hearing on October 25 that prosecutors are planning a plea deal. However, the government is not sure whether it will accept the offer.
Last week, the Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested Council, 25. In a press release, the United States Attorney's Office, District of Columbia, noted that the suspect's hacking and posting of a fake message to the SEC account on (btc) soared by $1,000 as the market reacted.
Council and others allegedly used a SIM-swapping attack to gain unauthorized access and take over the US stock market regulator's social media account. This came as the crypto industry awaited approval of the SEC's first spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund for the US market, a period of increased positive sentiment.
When the SEC regained control of its account and confirmed that a previous announcement was false and the result of a SIM swapping attack, cryptocurrency prices fell sharply. Sentiment changed massively, turning negative for btc as its price dropped over $2,000 in a matter of minutes.
The SEC approved btc spot ETFs, a development that catalyzed a rise in the price of bitcoin to its all-time high of $73,000.
The charges against City Hall included device fraud and conspiracy to commit aggravated identity theft. The suspect allegedly received a payment in btc from anonymous sources for his successful SIM swapping attack.
