Eric Council Jr. faces charges of conspiracy to commit aggravated identity theft and access device fraud.
A 25-year-old man from Athens, Alabama, was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for hacking the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) official X account in January.
According to an Oct. 17 statement, Eric Council Jr. was taken into custody following charges of conspiracy to commit aggravated identity theft and access device fraud.
According to federal authorities, Council is accused of being part of a group that hacked the SEC’s X account in January 2024 and posted a fake message on Jan. 9 claiming that the SEC had approved the first Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETF) of the United States.
