Suspect in 'Bitcointopia' fraud gets prison

A San Diego man has been sentenced to 21 months in federal prison for selling plots of land he didn't own to unsuspecting investors he convinced would eventually live in "Bitcointopia," a city of the future in the Nevada desert.

The San Diego Union-Tribune reports 31-year-old cryptocurrency entrepreneur Morgan Rockcoons had lured investors with a slick website advertising his city-from-scratch as a Tomorrowland built on bitcoins.

Bitcointopia offered 500- to-1,000-acre plots at a half-bitcoin per acre. At least 10 people had purchased land but never got their deeds.

Rockcoons was arrested last year and eventually pleaded guilty to operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business and wire fraud.

Prosecutors say Rockcoons did own some land in Nevada — two non-contiguous parcels totaling about five acres.