Two Ex-Lottery.com Executives Plead Guilty to Securities Fraud

• Sentencing before Judge Alvin K. Hellers set for November
• CEO of SPAC that took Lottery.com public was previously indicted

Two former Lottery.com Inc. executives have pleaded guilty to securities fraud charges in connection with a scheme to fraudulently inflate the financial results of a company that promoted itself as the lottery equivalent of Uber or Doordash.

Ryan Dickinson, the company’s former chief financial officer, pleaded guilty Thursday in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York to one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud, to make false and misleading statements in proxy statements, and to make false filings to the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

He also pleaded guilty to one count of securities fraud, one count of making false SEC filings, and one count of improperly influencing the conduct of audits.

Former chief revenue officer Matthew Clemenson pleaded guilty to the same charges, minus the count for influencing the conduct of audits.

The pleas are part of a case that federal prosecutors filed in February against the ex-CEO of the blank-check company that acquired Lottery.com to launch it into the public markets. That indictment accuses Vadim Komissarov of defrauding investors in Trident Acquisitions Corp. by reporting fake revenues about Lottery.com and selling off his shares before the market found out.

The guilty pleas come a year after Bloomberg Tax chronicled Lottery.com’s near collapse, including details how revenue that it reported in its first quarter as a public company was almost entirely fictitious. Later, the story disclosed, Dickinson allegedly helped persuade a California church to loan most of its cash reserves, $2.7 million, to cover his personal tax obligations. The church lost all of its money, it later alleged in a lawsuit. The federal charges do not include allegations about the church claims.

The federal charges revolve largely around a $30 million financing deal and an overpriced acquisition of a Mexican gaming company that were both allegedly designed to inflate the company’s revenues.

Lottery.com went public in November 2021 via a merger with Trident, a so-called special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC. The startup, originally known as AutoLotto, set out to be the DoorDash or Uber of lottery ticket sales, allowing customers to skip the trip to the corner store and buy tickets on their phones via an app.

Behind the flashy phone technology, the company had to rely on couriers to make in-person paper ticket purchases and struggled to comply with a complex web of state gambling regulations. By mid-2022, the company couldn’t make payroll, and its board later forced management to shut down the lottery operations.

Lottery.com has since changed its business focus to sports entertainment and overhauled its C-suite, even as it has come under scrutiny in Texas for playing a part in what lawmakers say was a rigged lottery drawing.

Both Dickinson and Clemenson are set to be sentenced by Judge Alvin K. Hellers in late November. Komissarov, who has been charged with securities fraud, conspiracy, obstruction, and perjury, has pleaded not guilty.

Clemenson and Dickinson are represented by McDermott Will & Emery. Komissarov is represented by Loeb & Loeb LLP.

The case is United States v. Dickinson/Clemenson, S.D.N.Y., No. 1:25-cr-00061, pleas entered 5/22/25.

https://news.bloomberglaw.com/capital-markets/two-ex-lottery-com-executives-plead-guilty-to-securities-fraud