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2026-06-03T14:24:51Z

add {{DEFAULTSORT}} for proper category ordering

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	[[Category:High-Profile_Federal_Offenders]]		[[Category:High-Profile_Federal_Offenders]]
	[[Category:Wire_Fraud]]		[[Category:Wire_Fraud]]

Orderly: Create article: Robert Dunlap (federal case)

2026-06-03T14:24:46Z

Create article: Robert Dunlap (federal case)

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{{Infobox Person
|name = Robert Dunlap
|birth_place = United States
|residence = Houston, Texas
|charges = Mail fraud (2 counts)
|conviction_date = November 20, 2025
|sentence = 276 months (23 years) federal prison
|sentencing_date = April 15, 2026
|restitution = Ordered; victim losses exceeded $20 million
|judge = Hon. LaShonda A. Hunt
|case_number = U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois
|status = Incarcerated
|occupation = Cryptocurrency promoter
|known_for = Meta-1 Coin fraud
}}

'''Robert Dunlap''' is an American man convicted of federal mail fraud for orchestrating the Meta-1 Coin scheme, a cryptocurrency fraud that took in more than $20 million from nearly 1,000 investors between 2018 and 2023.<ref name="doj2026">U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of Illinois. "Texas Man Who Orchestrated $20 Million Cryptocurrency Scam Sentenced to 23 Years in Prison." April 16, 2026.</ref> Dunlap, of Houston, Texas, sold a purported digital asset called Meta-1 Coin through an entity he ran as the "Meta-1 Coin Trust."<ref name="doj2026"/>

Dunlap told investors the coin was backed by hard assets. He claimed it was secured by as much as $1 billion in fine art and $44 billion in gold.<ref name="doj2026"/> He named works attributed to Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali, and Vincent van Gogh among the collection.<ref name="doj2026"/> He produced documents stating that an accounting firm had audited the gold and certified its value.<ref name="doj2026"/> Investigators found that Dunlap owned neither the art nor the gold, and that the audit records were fabricated.<ref name="doj2026"/>

A federal jury in Chicago convicted Dunlap on two counts of mail fraud on November 20, 2025, after a week-long trial.<ref name="irs2025">Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation. "Federal jury in Chicago convicts man of orchestrating $14 million cryptocurrency fraud." November 20, 2025.</ref> On April 15, 2026, U.S. District Judge LaShonda A. Hunt sentenced him to 23 years in federal prison and ordered him to pay restitution to his victims.<ref name="doj2026"/><ref name="cbschicago">CBS News Chicago. "Texas man behind $20 million crypto scam gets 23 years in federal prison from Illinois judge." April 16, 2026.</ref> The criminal case was prosecuted in the Northern District of Illinois. A separate civil enforcement action by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission had been filed against Dunlap and two associates in 2020 in the Western District of Texas.<ref name="secaction">U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. "SEC Emergency Action Stops Digital Asset Scam." Press Release 2020-66, March 16, 2020.</ref>

== Background ==

Public records identify Dunlap as a resident of Houston, Texas.<ref name="doj2026"/> He was in his mid-fifties at the time of his conviction.<ref name="suntimes">Chicago Sun-Times. "Cryptocurrency scam sees Chicago jury convict Texas man in $14 million scheme." November 20, 2025.</ref> Court filings in the SEC's earlier civil case listed him as a Florida resident at the time of that 2020 action.<ref name="secaction"/>

Within the Meta-1 operation, Dunlap presented himself as a wealthy financier. He used the title "Executive Trustee" of the Meta-1 Coin Trust and described himself in promotional materials as the project's architect.<ref name="dailybeast">Adkins, Will. "The $9 Million Crypto Scam Backed By a State Senator and a YouTube Psychic." The Daily Beast, June 1, 2020.</ref> He claimed to own a private art collection and to hold rights to a large gold reserve. Neither claim was true.<ref name="doj2026"/>

== Meta-1 Coin ==

Meta-1 Coin was marketed as a stable, asset-backed digital token. Dunlap sold it through the Meta-1 Coin Trust and a related website he operated as the "Meta Exchange."<ref name="irs2025"/> The pitch centered on permanence. Promoters told buyers the coin could not lose value because it was tied to physical reserves.<ref name="secaction"/>

The asset claims changed over the life of the project. Early marketing described a $1 billion art collection.<ref name="dailybeast"/> Later marketing described billions of dollars in gold. By the time of the criminal case, prosecutors cited a claimed backing of $44 billion in gold.<ref name="doj2026"/> The SEC's 2020 complaint described a claimed backing of roughly $2 billion in gold and a $1 billion art collection.<ref name="secaction"/>

Buyers purchased Meta-1 Coin at a price set by the operators. The SEC said the coin sold at $22.22 per unit and that promoters projected a single coin could reach $50,000 within two years, a return the agency calculated at more than 224,000 percent.<ref name="secaction"/> The SEC said the defendants told investors the coin was risk-free and would never decline in value.<ref name="secaction"/>

== The Scheme ==

The fraud ran from 2018 to 2023.<ref name="doj2026"/> Dunlap solicited money from the public on the strength of the asset-backing claims, then concealed the absence of those assets.<ref name="doj2026"/>

To support the gold claim, Dunlap created false legal and financial documents.<ref name="doj2026"/> These included paperwork purporting to show that an accounting firm had reviewed and certified the gold reserves.<ref name="doj2026"/> No such gold existed under his control. The art collection he described was also not his.<ref name="doj2026"/>

Dunlap manipulated the apparent market for the coin. He deployed automated trading bots to inflate the price and trading volume of Meta-1 Coin on the Meta Exchange, the trading website he built.<ref name="irs2025"/> The inflated figures gave investors the impression of genuine demand and rising value.<ref name="doj2026"/>

The money investors paid did not buy any backed asset. Prosecutors said the scheme caused nearly 1,000 investors to lose more than $20 million.<ref name="doj2026"/> The SEC, working from an earlier and narrower window, said the operation had raised over $9 million from at least 500 investors across 40 states and six foreign countries.<ref name="secaction"/>

The project drew attention for the people around it. The SEC named two associates alongside Dunlap. Nicole Bowdler, a social-media personality, served as a trustee and handled what the operation called art acquisition.<ref name="dailybeast"/> David A. Schmidt, a former member of the Washington state legislature, promoted the coin through his blog and broadcasts and defended it publicly against fraud accusations.<ref name="dailybeast"/> The criminal trial in 2025 centered on Dunlap.<ref name="suntimes"/>

== Charges and Conviction ==

The SEC filed the first government action. On March 16, 2020, the agency filed an emergency civil complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, Austin Division, against the Meta-1 Coin Trust, Dunlap, Bowdler, and Schmidt.<ref name="secaction"/> The complaint charged violations of the antifraud and securities-registration provisions of the federal securities laws and sought an asset freeze.<ref name="secaction"/> The defendants did not answer the complaint, and the court entered default judgment.<ref name="secjudgment">U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. "SEC v. Meta 1 Coin Trust, Robert Dunlap, Clear International Trust, Nicole Bowdler, and David A. Schmidt." Litigation Release No. 24775.</ref> The court held Meta-1 and Dunlap jointly liable for disgorgement of $10,849,776.47 plus prejudgment interest, and imposed a civil penalty of the same amount.<ref name="secjudgment"/> Bowdler was held liable for disgorgement of $1,540,679.48 plus interest.<ref name="secjudgment"/>

Federal prosecutors in Chicago brought the criminal case. Dunlap was charged with mail fraud for the Meta-1 Coin scheme.<ref name="irs2025"/> His trial lasted about a week. On November 20, 2025, the jury found him guilty on two counts of mail fraud.<ref name="irs2025"/><ref name="suntimes"/> Each count carried a statutory maximum of 20 years, and reporting at the time noted he faced up to 40 years in prison.<ref name="irs2025"/>

The investigation was led by IRS Criminal Investigation and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with assistance from the SEC and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.<ref name="doj2026"/> Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jared Hasten and Paige Nutini prosecuted the case.<ref name="doj2026"/>

== Sentencing ==

Judge LaShonda A. Hunt sentenced Dunlap on April 15, 2026, in the Northern District of Illinois.<ref name="cbschicago">CBS News Chicago. "Texas man behind $20 million crypto scam gets 23 years in federal prison from Illinois judge." April 16, 2026.</ref> The sentence was 23 years, or 276 months, in federal prison.<ref name="doj2026"/> The court also ordered Dunlap to pay restitution to compensate victims for their losses.<ref name="doj2026"/>

At sentencing, prosecutors put the total loss at more than $20 million across nearly 1,000 victims.<ref name="doj2026"/> That figure was higher than the roughly $14 million cited at the time of the November 2025 conviction, reflecting the full accounting of investor losses across the scheme.<ref name="irs2025"/><ref name="doj2026"/> U.S. Attorney Andrew S. Boutros announced the sentence.<ref name="doj2026"/>

== Frequently Asked Questions ==
{{FAQSection/Start}}
{{FAQ|question=Who is Robert Dunlap?|answer=Robert Dunlap is a Houston, Texas, man convicted of federal mail fraud for running the Meta-1 Coin scheme. He sold a cryptocurrency he falsely claimed was backed by gold and fine art, taking in more than $20 million from nearly 1,000 investors between 2018 and 2023.}}
{{FAQ|question=What was Robert Dunlap convicted of?|answer=A federal jury in Chicago convicted Dunlap on two counts of mail fraud on November 20, 2025, after a week-long trial. The conviction stemmed from the Meta-1 Coin cryptocurrency fraud.}}
{{FAQ|question=How long is Robert Dunlap's sentence?|answer=U.S. District Judge LaShonda A. Hunt sentenced Dunlap on April 15, 2026, to 23 years in federal prison and ordered restitution to his victims.}}
{{FAQ|question=What was Meta-1 Coin?|answer=Meta-1 Coin was a digital token Dunlap sold through the Meta-1 Coin Trust. He claimed it was backed by as much as $1 billion in art and $44 billion in gold and that an accounting firm had audited the gold. Investigators found Dunlap owned neither the art nor the gold and that the audit documents were fabricated.}}
{{FAQ|question=How much money did the Meta-1 Coin scheme take?|answer=Prosecutors said the scheme caused nearly 1,000 investors to lose more than $20 million. The earlier SEC civil case described over $9 million raised from at least 500 investors across 40 states and six countries.}}
{{FAQ|question=Who were Robert Dunlap's co-defendants?|answer=The SEC's 2020 civil complaint named Nicole Bowdler, who served as a trustee handling art acquisition, and David A. Schmidt, a former Washington state legislator who promoted the coin. The 2025 criminal trial centered on Dunlap.}}
{{FAQ|question=Where was Robert Dunlap's case prosecuted?|answer=The criminal mail fraud case was prosecuted in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago. The earlier SEC civil action was filed in the Western District of Texas.}}
{{FAQ|question=How did Robert Dunlap inflate Meta-1 Coin's value?|answer=Dunlap used automated trading bots to inflate the price and trading volume of Meta-1 Coin on the Meta Exchange, a trading website he created, giving investors a false impression of demand and rising value.}}
{{FAQSection/End}}

== References ==

<references />

[[Category:High-Profile_Federal_Offenders]]
[[Category:Wire_Fraud]]
[[Category:Securities_Fraud]]
[[Category:Ponzi_Schemes]]
[[Category:Cryptocurrency Fraud]]
[[Category:Currently Incarcerated]]

{{#seo:
|title=Robert Dunlap — Meta-1 Coin Cryptocurrency Fraud, Mail Fraud Conviction | Prisonpedia
|title_mode=replace
|description=Robert Dunlap ran the Meta-1 Coin scheme, a $20 million cryptocurrency fraud. Convicted of mail fraud in 2025, sentenced to 23 years in 2026. Full case file on Prisonpedia.
|keywords=Robert Dunlap, Meta-1 Coin, Meta 1 Coin Trust, cryptocurrency fraud, mail fraud, Nicole Bowdler, David Schmidt, gold backed crypto scam, Robert Dunlap sentence
|type=ProfilePage
|site_name=Prisonpedia
|locale=en_US
|published_time=2026-06-03
|modified_time=2026-06-03
}}

{{MetaDescription|Robert Dunlap orchestrated the Meta-1 Coin scheme, a $20 million cryptocurrency fraud. Convicted of mail fraud and sentenced to 23 years in federal prison. Case file on Prisonpedia.}}

Robert Dunlap - Revision history

TerryMoses: add {{DEFAULTSORT}} for proper category ordering

Orderly: Create article: Robert Dunlap (federal case)