BlockBeats report, on April 17, according to the U.S. Department of Justice, Robert Dunlap, a man from Texas, was sentenced to 23 years in federal prison by Judge LaShonda A. Hunt for orchestrating a cryptocurrency scam that defrauded nearly 1,000 investors of over $20 million and is required 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 the "Meta-1 Coin Trust." He made numerous false statements to potential and actual investors, claiming that the token was backed by up to $1 billion in artwork and $44 billion in gold, and falsely asserted that a major accounting firm had audited and certified the value of the gold. The alleged art collection purportedly included works by renowned artists such as Picasso, Dali, and Van Gogh. To conceal the fact that he did not actually possess the gold or artwork, Dunlap forged a series of legal documents.