An Alabama man has been sentenced to prison for his involvement in hacking the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s official X account.
The man, Eric Council Jr., 26, also known as ‘Ronin’ and ‘Agiantschnauzer’, was arrested in October 2024 and pled guilty in February 2025 to his role in taking over the account to publish fraudulent posts about Bitcoin.
According to documents presented in court, in January 2024, Council and his co-conspirators took over the @SECgov X account using a SIM swapping attack.
Using a portable ID card printer, Council created a physical ID he then used in an AT&T store to convince an employee to transfer the phone number associated with the SEC X account to a new SIM card.
Using a newly purchased iPhone and the SIM card, he then requested a reset code for the account’s password, which he sent to his co-conspirators. He then returned the iPhone for cash.
Another individual involved in the conspiracy used the reset code to access the @SECgov X account and post fraudulent messages in the name of the commission’s chairman, announcing the approval of Bitcoin Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs), which resulted in the value of Bitcoin increasing by more than $1,000.
The SEC regained control of the account shortly after, announced the security breach and confirmed that the posts were fraudulent, which resulted in Bitcoin’s price dropping by over $2,000.
In June 2024, the FBI searched Council’s residence in Athens, Alabama, recovering a fake ID card, a portable ID card printer, and a laptop.
When searching the laptop, investigators found templates for more fake IDs, as well as incriminating internet searchers, including some for “SECGOV hack” and “telegram sim swap”.
Council admitted in court to additional SIM swapping attempts in June 2024. He also admitted to receiving roughly $50,000 to perform the SIM swapping attack.
Council was sentenced to 14 months in prison and three years of supervised release, and ordered to forfeit $50,000.
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