The US government has entered into a plea agreement with hackers who previously hacked into SEC X account and released Bitcoin spot ETFs

On February 10th, according to Cointelegraph, the US government has entered into a plea agreement for Eric Council Jr., who is suspected of aiding in the intrusion of the US Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) X account in January 2024. In a document submitted to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia on February 9, 2025, federal prosecutors filed a confiscation order requiring him to pay $50000, which he "personally obtained" for posting a message on X implying that the SEC had approved a Bitcoin spot ETF for the first time. The suspected hacker will also plead guilty to one count of conspiracy, which involves aggravated identity theft and device access fraud. Council is a member of an organization that temporarily took control of SEC's X account through a SIM card swap attack in January 2024. This leak allowed hackers to release a false message, which included images of then SEC Chairman Gary Gensler announcing the approval of a spot Bitcoin ETF.