A federal jury in Chicago has found Robert Dunlap, 54, of Houston, Texas, guilty of two counts of mail fraud for orchestrating a cryptocurrency scheme that defrauded nearly 1,000 investors out of at least $14 million. The verdict was delivered after a week-long trial in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
Dunlap’s sentencing is scheduled for February 17, 2026. He faces a maximum sentence of 40 years in federal prison.
According to evidence presented at trial, between 2018 and 2023 Dunlap and others marketed and sold a digital asset called “Meta-1 Coin” through an entity known as “Meta-1 Coin Trust.” Prosecutors said Dunlap made false statements to both potential and actual investors about the coin being backed by up to $1 billion in art and $44 billion in gold. He also falsely claimed that an accounting firm had audited the gold holdings and certified their value. The supposed art collection included works attributed to Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali, Vincent Van Gogh, among other artists.
Additionally, authorities stated that Dunlap used automated trading bots to artificially inflate the market price and trading volume of Meta-1 Coin on the “Meta Exchange,” a website he created himself. To conceal his actions, Dunlap generated various legal, insurance, and other documents purporting ownership of assets he did not possess.
The announcement was made by Andrew S. Boutros, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; Douglas S. DePodesta, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Office of the FBI; and Adam Jobes, Special Agent-in-Charge of IRS Criminal Investigation in Chicago. Assistance came from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as well as the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Paige Nutini and Jared Hasten are representing the government in this case.
