The Regalados used the money to support their “lavish lifestyle,” the complaint said.
An online pastor in the US has been charged with civil fraud for selling a cryptocurrency that regulators described as “practically worthless.” according to CBS News, the Colorado Securities Commissioner filed a legal complaint against Eligio Regalado and his wife, Kaitlyn Regalado, last week. The complaint accuses the couple of raising $3.2 million by targeting the state's Christian community with the cryptocurrency, marketed as INDXcoin. They sold the “practically worthless” tokens from June 2022 to April 2023 through a cryptocurrency exchange they set up called Kingdom Wealth Exchange, the complaint said.
The sales supported the couple's “lavish lifestyle,” Colorado Securities Commissioner (CSC) Tong Chan said in a statement. Mr Chan added: “Mr Regalado took advantage of the trust and faith of his Christian community and peddled them with outlandish promises of wealth when he sold them worthless cryptocurrencies.”
It is usually possible to convert cryptocurrency into cash or other currencies through a digital platform or trading exchange. However, investigators claimed that INDXcoin was actually “illiquid and practically useless.” They also accused the couple of violating Colorado's anti-fraud and licensing and registration laws.
On Friday, the pastor admitted in a video message that allegations that he received $1.3 million from investors were “true.” “We took God at His word and sold cryptocurrency with no clear way out,” Regalado said. Washington Post. He added that he also received divine instructions to give up his previous job to acquire INDXcoin.
“I wonder, ‘Well, where is this liquidity going to come from?’ And the Lord says, ‘Trust me,’” the pastor said. “We were always under the impression that God would provide for us and the source would never end,” he added.
An online pastor in CO has been indicted for a $1.3 million cryptocurrency scam. He released a 9-minute video explaining that God asked him to sell cryptocurrency with no clear way out, and spend some of the proceeds on “the house remodel that God asked us to do.”
Here is Supercut. pic.twitter.com/scKpF8nyrT
– Molly White (@molly0xFFF) January 21, 2024
Mr. Regalado also said he would go to court to address the accusations against him and his wife. “Either I misheard God, and every one of you prayed and went in, too,” he said. “Or two, God is not finished with this project yet.”
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According to CSC, Regalados had no previous experience operating a cryptocurrency exchange or creating a virtual token before minting INDX two years ago. But the pastor said he was inspired to sell INDXcoin because “God is in the business of making new things and breaking seals. He told us to do it.”
Investors who purchased INDXcoin were then unable to convert the cryptocurrency into cash due to technical malfunctions, Regalado said. “We launched the exchange,” the priest said. “The exchange technology failed. Things went downhill.” “I know this sounds terrible,” he added.
Meanwhile, according to CSC, almost anyone can create a cryptocurrency token. “It's easy to create new coins and new exchanges using open source code. We want to remind consumers to be very skeptical,” Chan said.
