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By Douglas Gillison, Chris Prentice, Sarah N. Lynch
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A 25-year-old Alabama man was arrested on Thursday for hacking the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's X account earlier this year as part of an alleged conspiracy to manipulate bitcoin prices, U.S. prosecutors said.
In January, a hacker posted false news on the SEC's @SECGov X account announcing the agency had approved bitcoin exchange-traded funds, causing the price of the cryptocurrency to spike. The agency quickly disavowed and deleted the post.
The incident sparked criticism of the SEC, the top U.S. markets regulator, and renewed concerns over security on the social media platform X since it was acquired by billionaire Elon Musk in October 2022.
Eric Council Jr. of Athens, Alabama, was arrested on Thursday morning in connection with the "SIM swapping" hack, the U.S. Attorney's office for the District of Columbia said in a statement on Thursday. A lawyer for Council did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Federal prosecutors allege that Council assisted unnamed co-conspirators who had identified a victim with access to the SEC's X account - dubbed "C.L." They instructed Council on how to switch the victim's phone to a new device and then used the access to post the bogus message on the SEC's X account.
The post on X caused bitcoin prices to spike by $1,000. Council later received bitcoin payment for the SIM swap and shortly after he drove to Birmingham, Alabama, to return the iPhone, according to the Justice Department.
Council subsequently performed internet searches for phrases such as "what are some signs that the FBI is after you" and looked for information about deleting accounts maintained on the encrypted messaging app Telegram, prosecutors allege.
The SEC did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Thursday's arrest.
Council has been charged with conspiracy to commit aggravated identity theft and access device fraud, according to the indictment.
The day after the hack, the SEC formally approved the bitcoin ETFs, which have brought the cryptocurrency further into the mainstream.
(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch and Douglas Gillison in Washington and Chris Prentice in New YorkEditing by Michelle Price and Matthew Lewis)
