The FBI has arrested Eric Council Jr., 25, of Athens, Alabama, in connection with the January 2024 unauthorized takeover of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) X account, previously known as Twitter.
The arrest follows allegations that Council played a key role in a hacking incident that led to a false post from the SEC Chair’s account, which caused a temporary spike in the value of Bitcoin.
US SEC Twitter Hacker Responsible For Fake Bitcoin ETF Arrested
According to the indictment, Eric Council was involved in a conspiracy to take control of the US SEC’s X account on January 9, 2024.
The method used was a “SIM swap” attack, a type of fraud where a phone number is illegally reassigned from its rightful owner to a device controlled by the hacker. Using this method, Council and his co-conspirators gained access to the SEC’s account.
After taking control, they posted a fake message from the SEC Chair, falsely claiming that the agebnxy had approved the listing of Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) on all national securities exchanges. This announcement caused Bitcoin’s price to increase by over $1,000. However, once the US SEC regained control of its account and issued a correction, Bitcoin’s price fell by more than $2,000.
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Kelvin Munene Murithi
Kelvin is a distinguished writer with expertise in crypto and finance, holding a Bachelor’s degree in Actuarial Science. Known for his incisive analysis and insightful content, he possesses a strong command of English and excels in conducting thorough research and delivering timely cryptocurrency market updates.
Disclaimer: The presented content may include the personal opinion of the author and is subject to market condition. Do your market research before investing in cryptocurrencies. The author or the publication does not hold any responsibility for your personal financial loss.
The US Justice Department has cracked one of the biggest cryptocurrency heists worth a staggering $3.6 billion in bitcoin tied to the 2016 hack of digital currency exchange Bitfinex. In addition, the Justice Department has arrested a husband-and-wife team on money laundering charges. Ilya “Dutch” Lichtenstein, 34, and his wife, Heather Morgan, 31, residents of New York, were arrested in Manhattan on Tuesday morning. The couple spent the ill-gotten wealth on a range of luxuries ranging from gold and non-fungible tokens to a $500 Walmart gift card, prosecutors said.
The couple had a very active social media presence with Morgan known as rap singer “Razzlekhan,” a pseudonym she said on her website referred to Genghis Khan “but with more pizzazz.”
In what would be one of the most significant seizures by the Justice Department, it is also a testimony that cryptocurrency can no longer be used as a haven by criminals.
Couple to face serious charges
The couple will face serious charges, including conspiring to commit money laundering and defraud the United States. The case was filed in a federal court in Washington, D.C. After their appearance in the court, the couple was made to set a bond of $5 million for Lichtenstein and $3 million for Morgan.
The court also demanded that their parents post their homes as security for their return to court.
The duo is accused of conspiring to launder 119,754 bitcoin stolen after a hacker broke into Bitfinex and initiated more than 2,000 unauthorized transactions. The total value of BTC at that time was $71 million. Today its value is said to be in the tune of $4.5 billion.
Daek Web also involved
Detectives of the Justice Department got their first clue from the 2017 bust of an underground digital market used to launder a portion of the funds. A part of the money was transferred to AlphaBay, an anything-goes version of eBay hosted on the dark web.
According to digital currency tracking company Elliptic, when the site was taken down, it allowed authorities to access AlphaBay’s internal transaction logs and connect them to a cryptocurrency account in Lichtenstein’s name.
Bitfinex said in a statement it was working with the Department of Justice to “establish our rights to a return of the stolen bitcoin.”
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In the recent past, Nigeria’s CBDC launch and its subsequent rise in use within a month have overshadowed the struggles that Nigerians are going through to trade cryptocurrencies. The Nigerian Central Bank launched digital Naira after some delays, but the motive was to curb the use of private cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and other altcoins.
eNaira has already proven to be a great success in terms of adoption as the number of wallet downloads crossed 500,000. 78,000 merchants from 160 countries have also enrolled for the use of CBDC and a total of $155,000 worth of eNaira has been transacted since launch. The CBDC launch has also successfully brought down Bitcoin trading volume in the region by one-fourth. However, several Nigerian traders are still risking police arrests and growing scams as it is the only livelihood they have, making profits on the crypto trade.
Adebayo Sulaimon, a crypto trader in the country was recently arrested for trading cryptocurrencies and was released on a $290 bond. But as soon as he returned from jail he started trading crypto assets again and explained why,
“There were no jobs, nothing to do. We had to look for (ways) to eat. I trade cryptocurrency and I use it to survive, not as a side hustle,”
Is Crypto Ban in Nigeria a Success?
The growing popularity of eNaira within a month of its launch and declining crypto trading numbers might indicate that the crypto ban imposed by the government has been successful. Nigeria is among the selected few countries which have decided to outright ban crypto use like China, Russia, and Turkey. The Nigerian government believes crypto can be used as a tool for money laundering, terrorism financing, and other illegal activities. However, Kunbi Ademola, a tech-focused lawyer in the country claimed that the ban has been ineffective and it has only pushed the crypto market underground.
“The ban has been ineffective,” said Kunbi Ademola, a lawyer focused on the tech industry, now based in Britain. “But it has exposed a lot more young people to fraud … (peer-to-peer) is not as secure as the direct exchanges that you could do before on the cryptocurrency exchanges.”
Many countries have tried to outright ban crypto use but on all those occasions, the ban has proven to be ineffective given the centralized nature.
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The presented content may include the personal opinion of the author and is subject to market condition. Do your market research before investing in cryptocurrencies. The author or the publication does not hold any responsibility for your personal financial loss.
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