Defense attorneys have requested a decide to condemn the particular person accountable for serving to publish a faux message asserting regulatory approval of Bitcoin exchange-traded funds to roughly a yr in jail, countering prosecutors’ request for a two-year sentence.
In a May 13 submitting within the US District Court for the District of Columbia, Eric Council Jr.’s authorized workforce requested that he be sentenced to no a couple of yr and in the future in jail following his responsible plea.
Council was a part of a bunch that took management of the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC’s) X account in 2024 by way of a SIM swap assault, posting a message that urged the regulator had permitted spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund listings for the primary time.
“A sentence of twelve months and in the future serves the ends of justice,” stated the May 13 submitting. “It sufficiently punishes the defendant for his position on this case. It additionally promotes respect for the legislation and deters future felony conduct.”
Council initially pleaded not responsible to the costs, however modified his plea to responsible in February on one depend of conspiracy to commit aggravated id theft and entry gadget fraud. The decide overseeing the case, Amy Berman Jackson, additionally ordered prosecutors to “establish the felony and level to the place that info may be discovered within the file” by May 13.
Prison sentence between 1 and a couple of years?
The SEC hacker is scheduled to be sentenced on May 16. Prosecutors requested the decide to impose a two-year sentence on Council, saying he “profited by way of a classy fraud scheme.” Court filings showed he earned roughly $50,000 by way of comparable SIM swap assaults.
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Though Council’s case was doubtless winding down with his upcoming sentencing listening to, the DC court docket district might quickly be underneath new management, probably affecting the prosecution of crypto-related instances. On May 8, US President Donald Trump introduced that Fox News host Jeanine Pirro would turn into the interim US lawyer for the District of Columbia.
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