Houston Man Sentenced to 23 Years Over Fake Gold- and Art-Backed Crypto Scheme

A Texas man received a 23-year federal prison sentence for running a crypto scam. The fraud drained nearly 1,000 investors of more than $20 million through a sham asset-backed token.

Robert Dunlap, 55, of Houston, sold a digital asset called Meta-1 Coin from 2018 to 2023. Federal prosecutors in the Northern District of Illinois led the case.

How the Meta-1 Coin Crypto Scam worked

According to the press release, Dunlap built his pitch around fabricated reserves. He told investors that Meta-1 Coin was backed by up to $1 billion in art. The collection supposedly included works attributed to Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali, Vincent Van Gogh, and others.

He also claimed roughly $44 billion in gold stood behind the token. An accounting firm had audited and certified the bullion, Dunlap falsely told buyers.

“Defendant lied to investors for years telling them that he had created a safe investment 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,” Assistant US Attorneys Jared Hasten and Paige Nutini argued in the government’s sentencing memorandum.

A federal jury convicted Dunlap on two counts of mail fraud in November 2025. US District Judge LaShonda A. Hunt handed down the 23-year sentence this week. She also ordered restitution for fraud victims, many of whom reported losing their life savings.

US Attorney Andrew S. Boutros and special agents from the FBI’s Chicago Field Office and IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) announced the sentence. They received assistance from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.

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