A Texas con artist found himself in the grip of the law after a grand indictment accused him of swindling more than $10 million from investors through a digital currency fraud. Robert Dunlap, 52, from Houston, was charged with four counts of mail fraud by federal prosecutors in Chicago, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Dunlap was nabbed last week in Virginia, far from the windswept plains of Texas, and faced the music on Monday in a Virginia court. Following charges detailed in an indictment by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, he'll be transported to Chicago to stand trial. The indictment claims, Dunlap, from 2018 to 2023, pulled the wool over investors' eyes with his so-called Meta-1 Coin peddled through the Meta-1 Coin Trust.
The allegation details a tale of deceit, with Dunlap falsely proclaiming the digital coin was backed by a staggering $44 billion worth of gold and art. The indictment accuses him of duping victims with talk of an audit by an accounting firm that never happened, padding the lie with famous names like Picasso and Van Gogh as part of the nonexistent art stash.
Chasing even bigger dreams, investors were led astray by Dunlap with the promise of being able to cash out their fanciful fortunes at will, trading Meta-1 Coin for real money or other cryptocurrencies. To keep his charade afloat, Dunlap conjured up a slew of seemingly legitimate documents, hiding the glaring fact he had no gold or art, outlines the indictment.
In the pursuit of justice, Acting U.S. Attorney Morris Pasqual for the Northern District of Illinois, together with FBI and IRS officials, unmasked the digital currency scam. Assistant U.S. Attorney Corey B. Rubenstein is handling the government's case, but it's crucial to remember the indictment doesn't equate to guilt. As the scales of justice prepare to weigh in, Robert Dunlap holds onto the presumption of innocence until proven otherwise. If he's found swimming in the deep end of guilt, he could face up to 20 years for each count of mail fraud as he awaits his sentence under federal guidelines.
