Federal prosecutors are reportedly set to propose a plea agreement to the individual accused of hacking the SEC’s social media platform earlier this year. Eric Council Jr., a 25-year-old from Alabama, allegedly conspired with others to gain unauthorized control of the SEC’s account and prematurely announced the approval of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the US. Council pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit aggravated identity theft and access device fraud during a recent hearing. However, prosecutors informed the judge that they planned to offer Council a plea deal, which could involve his cooperation in identifying his co-conspirators. The fake ETF announcement, made in January, caused the price of Bitcoin to rise and then drop significantly after the SEC declared it unauthorized. The DOJ claims Council carried out the hack through a fraudulent SIM swap, using the stolen identity of an individual with access to the SEC’s account. The SEC was criticized for failing to implement multi-factor authentication (MFA) despite public encouragement from SEC Chair Gary Gensler.