PANews reported on October 25 that according to Bloomberg, U.S. federal prosecutors plan to offer a plea deal to an Alabama man who was accused of participating in the hacking of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) X account in January and posting a false social media post about approving the first Bitcoin spot ETF. U.S. prosecutors told the judge at a hearing in the federal court in Washington on Friday: "We will offer a plea deal, but we don't know if he will accept it."
Eric Council Jr., 25, pleaded not guilty at the hearing to charges of conspiracy to commit aggravated identity theft and fraud using an access device. Council's cooperation may help prosecutors track down his co-conspirators in the case, who allegedly used stolen personal information of an SEC employee to gain access to the agency's accounts.
Prosecutors said Council allegedly forged an ID and deceived an employee of a local cell phone store into helping him gain access to the victim's phone. The conspirators who initially identified the victim and directed Council's actions then breached the security of the X account and posted the fake tweet.
