Crypto Coin Founder Who Drained $20,000,000 From 1,000 Investors Sentenced to 23 Years in Prison

A man accused of carrying out a cryptocurrency scam that siphoned more than $20 million from victims has just been sentenced to 23 years of jail time.

The US Justice Department says that from 2018 to 2023, Robert Dunlap promoted and sold a digital token called “Meta-1 Coin” through Meta-1 Coin Trust.

The Houston, Texas resident made false and misleading claims that the asset was backed by $44 billion in gold purportedly audited and certified by an accounting firm and $1 billion in art collection that allegedly included the works of Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali and Vincent Van Gogh.

Dunlap also created fake legal documents to hide the fact that he did not actually possess the gold and the art collection.

Nearly 1,000 investors fell to the scheme and many lost all of their savings. According to Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jared Hasten and Paige Nutini, Dunlap lied to investors for years telling them that he created safe investments for them. 

“Over the years, defendant was unrepentant and his lies became bigger. Would-be criminals planning to engage in similar conduct need to know that such actions will be met with a serious repercussion that includes loss of one’s liberty for an extended period of time.”

U.S. District Judge LaShonda A. Hunt of the Northern District of Illinois sentenced Dunlap on Tuesday after a federal jury convicted him on mail fraud charges last year.

Hunt also ordered the 55-year-old to pay restitution to his victims.

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