All posts tagged: ArtBacked

Man Who Orchestrated M. Art-Backed Crypto Scam Sentenced to Prison

Man Who Orchestrated $20 M. Art-Backed Crypto Scam Sentenced to Prison

Published by Jenni Sidey

A Houston man has been sentenced to a lengthy prison stay after robbing investors of millions in savings through a bogus cryptocurrency that was supposedly backed by a collection of works by Salvador Dalí, Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, and other famed artists. Nearly 1,000 victims were cheated out of more than $20 million, with many losing their entire savings.  A federal jury in the Northern District of Illinois convicted Robert Dunlap, 55, on mail fraud charges in 2025. Earlier this month, US District Judge LaShonda A. Hunt sentenced him to 23 years in federal prison and ordered him to pay restitution. Related Articles For five years, between 2018 and 2023, Dunlap claimed to be running a cryptocurrency business that peddled a digital asset, “Meta-1 Coin.” He told potential investors that the asset was backed by up to $1 billion in art and $44 billion in gold, telling his victims that an accounting firm had audited the gold and confirmed its value. Faked legal documents, insurance documents, and other bogus paperwork concealed the fact that …

Sotheby’s Prices 0M Art-Backed Securitization

Sotheby’s Prices $900M Art-Backed Securitization

Published by José Betancourt

This week Sotheby’s Financial Services (SFS) announced that it had priced a $900 million securitization backed by loans secured against artworks and, for the first time, collectible cars, according to the company. The deal is scheduled to close on February 3 and is expected to receive top-tier credit ratings from Morningstar DBRS, Sotheby’s said. In simple terms, the transaction bundles hundreds of loans made to collectors, using artworks and luxury vehicles as collateral, and sells the right to collect those future loan payments as bonds to institutional investors. Those investors receive regular payments as borrowers repay their loans, while Sotheby’s gets cash up front that it can use to make new loans. Related Articles This is the second issuance under a securitization program Sotheby’s launched in 2024, when it priced roughly $700 million in bonds backed exclusively by art-secured loan. That earlier deal was notable for pushing art lending into the same kinds of financial markets long used for mortgages, car loans, and other consumer debt. The new issuance builds on that foundation, both in size and scope. The addition …

Defaults on Art-Backed Loans Soar in Tough Market 

Defaults on Art-Backed Loans Soar in Tough Market 

Published by Jenni Sidey

Half of non-bank art lenders experienced loan defaults in 2024, up from 17 percent two years earlier, according to the Deloitte Private and ArtTactic Art and Finance Report 2025. That said, it’s still better than the chaos of 2020, the first year of Covid, when two-thirds of these lenders faced defaults as the art market all but came to a standstill. Harry Smith, executive chair of art valuers Gurr Johns, put it bluntly: “The market is split between the best and the rest. Lending on the best is fine—lending on the rest? Absolutely not.” His firm, which values up to $5 billion of art used as loan collateral every year, is even shutting down its small lending business. Related Articles Despite a strong showing during fall’s marquee sales in New York, the wider art market has been shrinking since 2022, hit by falling demand from high-spending Asian buyers and general economic uncertainty. Sales fell 12 percent to $57.5 billion in 2024, according to Art Basel and UBS. As a result, the value of artworks used …