Charles Overton Scott

Charles Overton Scott, a businessman from Arlington, Virginia, was convicted for his role in a scheme to manipulate the stock of US Lighting Group (USLG), a small Euclid, Ohio-based LED lighting company whose shares traded on the over-the-counter market as a penny stock. Between 2016 and 2019, USLG's CEO Paul Spivak and co-conspirators took the company public through a reverse merger with a shell company and artificially inflated its stock price through pump-and-dump tactics including the use of call rooms. In 2021, Scott and Spivak engaged directly with undercover federal agents and a confidential informant, arranging for Scott to sell free-trading USLG shares to the undercover operatives at manipulated prices, then kick back approximately half the proceeds to USLG in exchange for additional restricted stock. The scheme defrauded investors of nearly $7 million. Both men were convicted at trial in October 2024; Spivak received 17.5 years in prison while Scott was sentenced to 42 months. Scott served only two weeks before receiving his pardon.