The former CEO of a special purpose acquisition company that merged with Lottery.com has been indicted by federal authorities on charges of fraud and making false claims.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, Vadim Komissarov has been charged with conspiracy to commit securities fraud, making false filings with the SEC, perjury, obstruction of justice and making false and misleading statements for his alleged role in a scheme to defraud investors in a SPAC and Lottery.com.
The 53-year-old allegedly spearheaded a scheme to defraud investors of Trident Acquisitions Corp., the SPAC that merged with AutoLotto to create Lottery.com.
According to court documents, Komissarov allegedly led a scheme between November 2020 and May 2022 to provide false and misleading revenue and business information to a group of investors in Trident and Lottery.com. He allegedly profited from the scheme by selling shares of Lottery.com before the true state of the company was disclosed.
Komissarov initiated the alleged scheme to secure an acquisition for Trident ahead of a deadline to use or return investor funds. He allegedly provided false information to Trident shareholders regarding AutoLotto’s revenue to garner support for the acquisition.
The former CEO allegedly collaborated with colleagues at the company to falsify SEC filings by inflating AutoLotto’s revenue. The falsified SEC filings were signed by Komissarov.
His alleged profits in the scheme included $600,000 following the sale of nearly 300,000 shares of Lottery.com in 2022. Komissarov sold the shares before the reported errors.
A year later, the SEC began investigating Trident and Lottery.com leading to a subpoena for documents and testimony. As a result of the probe, Komissarov allegedly attempted to obstruct the SEC’s investigation by warning Lottery.com executives of his misconduct.
He also provided false information to the SEC during a sworn testimony in November 2024.
“As alleged, Vadim Komissarov, the former CEO of Trident Acquisitions Corp., engineered sham transactions and reported false and misleading revenue, all to ensure his SPAC merger went through and to make himself wealthy,” said U.S. Attorney Matthew Podolsky. “To make matters worse, he tried to cover up his crimes by lying to the SEC under oath.”
Komissarov’s case has oversight from the Attorney General’s Office Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force. If convicted of his listed charges, Komissarov could spend more than 15 years in prison with his maximum sentence prescribed by Congress.
He was arrested last week by federal authorities in New York.
A growing list of issues for Lottery.com
Komissarov has been arrested after Lottery.com received notice from the Nasdaq about a potential delisting from the stock market due to incompliance issues amid a resignation.
Lottery.com was warned after an abrupt resignation from its board of directors and its audit and compensation committees. The resignation led the Nasdaq to cite Lottery.com for failure to adhere to Listing Rule 5605, which requires the board to consist of at least three members, each of whom is an independent director and meets certain standards.
The company had faced a similar issue in 2022 after several board members resigned.
Lottery.com facing class action in Texas
Earlier this month, Lottery.com was included in a class action lawsuit over allegations of facilitating a “long-running fraud scheme.” The alleged scheme involved the manipulation of the Texas Lottery after Lottery.com founder Ryan Dickerson was terminated in 2022.
The scheme is also tied to allegations of fraud pertaining to a $95 million jackpot in 2023.
According to court documents, Dickerson bought 142 winning lottery tickets in three years, including a $50,000 Powerball in 2020. A year later, he won another $50,000 Powerball. Dickerson was relieved of his duties in 2022 for cause.
Lottery.com would later replace its entire executive team and board of directors.
In addition to Lottery.com, IGT Solutions and Rook TX, an investment group, have also been named in the class action suit that was filed by LottoReport.com founder Dawn Nettles. Rook TX allegedly illegally spent over $25 million to win the $95 million jackpot.
IGT has been included in the suit for its delivery of lottery terminals across Texas.
