30s Summary

Eric Council Jr., a 25-year-old from Athens, Alabama, has been arrested by the FBI for allegedly hacking into the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) account in January. It is believed that Council posted a false news report stating the SEC had approved the first Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETF) in the U.S., causing Bitcoin’s value to rise by over $1,000. Soon after, SEC Head Gary Gensler clarified that no such approval had been given and that the account had been compromised. The case is ongoing.

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So, a 25-year-old guy from Athens, Alabama just got nabbed by the FBI for supposedly hacking into the official account of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) earlier in January.

His name’s Eric Council Jr. and he was busted last October 17 for some pretty heavy charges, like conspiracy to commit aggravated identity theft and access device fraud.

The Feds think Council was one of the folks who hacked the SEC’s account and put out a bogus news blast on January 9 saying the SEC had given a thumbs up to the first Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETF) in the U.S.

That fake news caused Bitcoin’s value to go up more than $1,000, which totally shook things up in the markets.

About 15 minutes afterwards, the head honcho of the SEC, Gary Gensler, said that the news was total bunk. He clarified that no approval had been given for bitcoin ETF trading and their account had been hacked into.

Just a heads up, this story is still developing, so we’ll keep you posted as more details come to light.

Source: Cointelegraph