Zoltan Nagy, a Canadian businessman, and Glenn Laken, an Illinois trader previously convicted of federal securities fraud and racketeering, pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit securities fraud in international pump-and-dump schemes that caused over $1 million in losses, the Justice Department says. According to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Atlanta, both schemes involved hacking U.S.-based online consumer brokerage accounts and forcing purchases of worthless penny stocks that the pair's co-conspirators controlled.

Nagy, 60, of Vancouver, British Columbia, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit securities fraud on October 20, 2026, the office says. Laken, 72, of Chicago, pleaded guilty to the same charge on September 25, 2026. Three Canadian co-conspirators, Phillip Sewell, Richard Tang and Davies Wong, previously pleaded guilty to similar charges, according to the office.

Prosecutors say Nagy was the sole officer and director of Lotus Bio-Technology Development Corp., a penny stock company that traded under the ticker LBTD. On August 16, 2017, a hacked brokerage account was forced to buy 200,000 LBTD shares at inflated prices, according to the office. Prosecutors say 24 customer accounts at multiple brokerage firms were later hacked and forced to buy millions of shares, while co-conspirators sold about 7.75 million LBTD shares for nearly $1.1 million.

Laken was CEO, chairman and controlling shareholder of a public company that by late 2017 owned 61% of Good Gaming, Inc., which traded under the ticker GMER, the office says. In January 2018, about 2.9 million GMER shares were moved to accounts held by co-conspirators, and on January 22, 2018, hacked accounts were forced to buy more than one million GMER shares, according to prosecutors. The office notes Laken was convicted in 2002 of racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud and other charges tied to a pension fund fraud and a stock manipulation scheme.

U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg said the defendants engaged in sophisticated stock price manipulation that harmed investors, and that his office will keep prosecuting securities fraud with help from law enforcement and the Securities and Exchange Commission. Sewell's sentencing is set for January 22, 2027, and Wong's for January 21, 2027, the office says.