A Texas resident, Robert Dunlap, has been sentenced to 23 years in prison for orchestrating a cryptocurrency fraud that defrauded nearly 1,000 investors of over $20 million. According to BlockBeats, the U.S. Department of Justice reported that federal judge LaShonda A. Hunt also ordered Dunlap to pay restitution to the victims.
Between 2018 and 2023, Dunlap claimed to operate a cryptocurrency business, selling a fraudulent digital asset called 'Meta-1 Coin' through 'Meta-1 Coin Trust.' He disseminated false statements to potential and actual investors, asserting that the token was backed by art valued at up to $1 billion and $44 billion in gold. Dunlap falsely claimed that an accounting firm had audited and certified the gold's value. The purported art collection was said to include works by renowned artists such as Picasso, Dali, and Van Gogh. To conceal the fact that he did not possess the gold or art, Dunlap forged a series of legal documents.