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.
Council carried out what’s known as a “SIM swap,” using a fake ID to impersonate someone with access to the SEC’s X account and convince a cellphone store to give him a SIM card linked to the person’s phone, prosecutors said. Council was able to take over the person’s cellphone number and get access codes to the SEC’s X account, which he shared with others who broke into the account and sent the post, the Justice Department said.
Prosecutors said Council received payment from his co-conspirators in bitcoin and made about $50,000 as part of the scheme. Before his arrest, prosecutors said Council's internet search history included “how can I know for sure if I am being investigated by the FBI" and “federal identity theft statute.”