Canadian Businessman Zoltan Nagy and Chicago Trader Glenn Laken Plead Guilty: Hacked Brokerage Accounts Forced to Buy Penny Stocks in Pump-and-Dump Schemes Causing Over $1 Million in Losses
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Georgia announced in Atlanta on October 26 that Zoltan Nagy, a Canadian businessman, and Glenn Laken, an Illinois trader previously convicted of federal securities fraud and racketeering offenses, have pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit securities fraud in connection with separate but substantially similar international pump-and-dump schemes that resulted in over $1 million in losses. Both schemes involved hacking U.S.-based online consumer brokerage accounts and forcing purchases of worthless penny stocks that the defendants' co-conspirators controlled. Three Canadian co-conspirators, Phillip Sewell, Richard Tang and Davies Wong, previously pleaded guilty to similar charges.
According to U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg, the indictment and other information presented in court, Nagy was the sole officer and director of Lotus Bio-Technology Development Corp., a penny stock company that traded under the ticker LBTD, and by the beginning of August 2017, Nagy, Tang, Wong and Sewell controlled the vast bulk of the LBTD shares available for public trading. On August 16, 2017, Rahim Mohamed, another co-conspirator, or someone acting at his direction, allegedly hacked into a U.S.-based online brokerage account and forced it to purchase 200,000 LBTD shares, while Wong and other co-conspirators sold approximately 261,000 shares, the majority of which were ultimately purchased by the hacked account at inflated prices. On September 19, 2017, the co-conspirators struck again on a significantly larger scale: Mohamed or others at his direction allegedly hacked into 24 customer accounts at multiple U.S.-based online brokerage firms and forced them to purchase millions of LBTD shares, while Wong and others sold approximately 7.75 million shares for nearly $1.1 million in proceeds, which were then divided between Nagy, Wong, Tang, Mohamed, Sewell and others.
Laken was the CEO, chairman and controlling shareholder of a publicly traded company that by late 2017 owned 61 percent of Good Gaming, Inc., a penny stock company that traded under the ticker GMER. Between January 12 and January 18, 2018, Tang coordinated with Laken to transfer approximately 2.9 million GMER shares to accounts held by co-conspirators. On January 22, 2018, Mohamed or others at his direction allegedly hacked into several accounts at U.S.-based online brokerage firms and forced them to purchase more than one million GMER shares, while other co-conspirators sold more than 700,000 of the shares they had originally obtained from Laken for nearly $170,000, with the proceeds divided between Laken, Tang, Mohamed and others. Laken was convicted in 2002 of racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud and other federal charges related to a pension fund fraud and a conspiracy to commit securities and wire fraud related to a stock manipulation scheme.
Nagy, 60, of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, pleaded guilty on October 20, 2026, and his sentencing hearing is set for January 20, 2027, at 2:00 p.m. before U.S. District Judge Victoria M. Calvert. Laken, 72, of Chicago, Illinois, pleaded guilty on September 25, 2026, and his sentencing hearing is set for January 13, 2027, at 11:00 a.m. Sewell, 65, of Vancouver, pleaded guilty on September 17, 2024, Tang, 49, of Vancouver, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud on October 23, 2024, and Wong, 67, of Vancouver, pleaded guilty on November 29, 2023; their sentencing hearings are set for January 21 and 22, 2027. Tang faces up to twenty years in prison, and Laken, Nagy, Sewell and Wong face up to five years each; each defendant may also be ordered to pay restitution and a fine of up to $250,000 or twice the gain or loss amount, whichever is greater. Rahim Mohamed, 50, of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, is still at large, and information regarding his whereabouts should be reported to local law enforcement. The case is being investigated by the FBI, with substantial assistance from the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：New York 证券交易所交易大厅资料图，与本案涉案公司无关。照片：Carol M. Highsmith，美国国会图书馆，公共领域（经 Wikimedia Commons） / The trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange (file photo, not connected to the companies in this case). Photo: Carol M. Highsmith, Library of Congress, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Direct: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/No_Known_Restrictions_Trading_Floor,_New_York_Stock_Exchange_(Highsmith_LOC)_(6718386525).jpg
