Zoltan Nagy, a Canadian businessman, and Glenn Laken, an Illinois trader previously convicted of federal securities fraud and racketeering offences, have pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit securities fraud in connection with international pump-and-dump schemes that resulted in over $1 million in losses, the US Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Georgia announced in Atlanta. Three Canadian co-conspirators — Phillip Sewell, Richard Tang and Davies Wong — previously pleaded guilty to similar charges.
Source: US Department of Justice, US Attorney's Office, Northern District of Georgia
According to prosecutors, Nagy and Laken were the majority shareholders of two different publicly traded penny stock companies at the heart of separate but substantially similar schemes. Both involved hacking US-based online consumer brokerage accounts and forcing them to purchase worthless penny stocks that the conspirators controlled, the Justice Department said. A second report summarising the same announcement gave the same plea dates and scheme details.
Source: Conservative Fix report on the Justice Department announcement
In the Lotus scheme, Nagy was the sole officer and director of Lotus Bio-Technology Development Corp., which traded under the ticker LBTD. Prosecutors said that on September 19, 2017, 24 customer accounts at multiple US online brokerage firms were allegedly hacked and forced to buy millions of LBTD shares, while Wong and other co-conspirators sold about 7.75 million shares for nearly $1.1 million in proceeds.
In the Good Gaming scheme, Laken was CEO, chairman and controlling shareholder of a company that owned 61 per cent of Good Gaming, Inc. (ticker GMER). Prosecutors said hacked accounts were forced on January 22, 2018 to buy more than one million GMER shares while co-conspirators sold more than 700,000 shares for nearly $170,000. Laken had been convicted in 2002 of racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud and other charges tied to a pension fund fraud and a stock manipulation scheme, the Justice Department said.
Nagy, 60, of Vancouver, pleaded guilty on October 20, 2026 and is set to be sentenced on January 20, 2027; Laken, 72, of Chicago, pleaded guilty on September 25, 2026 and is set for sentencing on January 13, 2027, both before US District Judge Victoria M. Calvert. Each faces up to five years in prison, possible restitution and a fine of up to $250,000 or twice the gain or loss, whichever is greater. Rahim Mohamed, 50, of Calgary, remains at large, prosecutors said. The case was investigated by the FBI with assistance from the Securities and Exchange Commission.