A Colorado-based online pastor who prosecutors allege sold $3.2 million in fraudulent cryptocurrency to parishioners claims that even though God told him to do so, there may have been a misunderstanding.
“Either I misheard God, and every one of you prayed and came…or two, God is not finished with this project yet,” Eligio “Eli” Regalado said in a video message after Colorado Securities Commissioner Tong Chan filed a fraud complaint. last week.
But as far as Chan is concerned, it's already been completed. In the civil lawsuit filed in Denver District Court, state financial regulators allege that Regalado and his wife, Kaitlyn Regalado, “created, marketed, and sold a cryptocurrency known as INDXcoin to members of the Christian community.”
They did this under the auspices of the newly created Kingdom Wealth Exchange for the express purpose of offering INDXcoin.
From June 2022 to April 2023, the Regalados allegedly convinced more than 300 people to invest approximately $3.2 million, telling Christian communities in Denver that God promised to make them rich if they invested.
Even after an external auditor deemed the token “unsafe, insecure, and riddled with serious technical problems,” the pair “continued to promote INDXcoin as a low-risk, high-reward investment,” the SEC said.
In fact, INDXcoin was “practically worthless” in addition to being illiquid. Prosecutors allege investors lost millions because the couple used their ill-gotten proceeds to “support their lavish lifestyle.”
Regalado admitted to creating the cryptocurrency, according to God's instructions, even though he and his other half had no idea how to manage a cryptocurrency.
“The charges are that Kate and I were paid $1.3 million, and I just want to come out and say these charges are true,” Regalado said. “But of the $1.3 million, half a million went to the IRS, and a few hundred thousand went to the home remodeling that the Lord asked us to do.”
Somewhere out there, technical glitches prevented investors who bought INDXcoin from converting it into cash. Regalado explained that the whole thing was just a big misunderstanding.
“God said, 'I want you to build this,'” he added, kind of taking responsibility for his actions, but he pretty much threw God under the bus. “We took God's word for it and sold cryptocurrency with no clear way out.”
Chan said the actions were all very humane.
“We allege that Mr. Regalado exploited the trust and faith of his Christian community, and that he peddled strange promises of wealth to them when he sold them worthless cryptocurrencies,” Chan said in a statement. “It's easy to create new coins and new exchanges using open source code. We want to remind consumers to be very skeptical.”
