The US government asked a federal judge to impose a two-year sentence for Eric Council Jr., the individual who helped post a fake message expressing the approval of funds exchanged by the Bitcoin exchange through the Account of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC’s).
During a May 12 in the US district court for the Columbia district, prosecutors recommend Judge Amy Berman Jackson Sentence Council in prison for his role in posting a message on the social media X platform suggesting that the SEC approved the Bitcoin area (Btc) The funds exchanged by the exchange (ETF) for the first time in January 2024. The fake announcement, shaking the markets almost 24 hours before the regulator actually approved the spots Bitcoin ETF, which led to the arrest of the council.
“This case deserves a prison penalty of guidelines,” US prosecutors said. “The defendant benefited from a sophisticated scheme of fraud involving documents that made the identity, a series of misconceptions in telecommunication stores, and the delivery of password reset codes for online accounts to co-conspirators located in the United States and abroad. This behavior deserves a significant penalty.”
Until May 12, the council’s legal team did not file a response to the recommendation of the subjugation. He was set to appear before Jackson on May 16.
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The Council apologized to be part of a team that controls the SEC’s X account through a SIM swap attack. With the regulator’s social media account control, hackers posted a fake message expressing the approval of Bitcoin ETF spots. The SEC quickly deleted the message and announced the official approval of crypto investment vehicles the next day.
Many in the crypto industry are expected to be whether the SEC is approved or disagreeing with the BTC investment list of US exchanges when the fake X post appeared. Bitcoin’s price went up more than $ 1,000 before SEC chair Gary Gensler denied the claims of the wrong post.
The change of DOJ’s leadership under Trump
The Council and others case will be decided under US lawyer picks without receiving confirmation in the Senate. President Donald Trump Designated temporary leadership For the Eastern District of New York, the Southern District of New York, and Columbia district after facing the push from Democrats.
It is unclear how the President’s influence can affect the Department of Justice pursuing criminal cases involving digital possessions, giving his relationship to the industry and his own crypto handling. In the Southern District of New York, a judge ordered former Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky up to 12 years in prison after a December 2024 guilty plea.
Magazine: SEC U-Turn to Crypto leaves key questions that are not answered
