SEC hacker counters prosecutors with 366-day sentencing recommendation

The federal judge overseeing the case has also ordered the government to provide additional information on the hacker’s crime before his May 16 sentencing hearing.

Defense lawyers have asked a judge to sentence the person responsible for helping post a fake message announcing regulatory approval of Bitcoin exchange-traded funds to roughly a year in prison, countering prosecutors’ request for a two-year sentence.

In a May 13 filing in the US District Court for the District of Columbia, Eric Council Jr.’s legal team asked that he be sentenced to no more than one year and one day in prison following his guilty plea.

Council was part of a group that took control of the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC’s) X account in 2024 through a SIM swap attack, posting a message that suggested the regulator had approved spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund listings for the first time.

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