Online pastor, wife allegedly sold $3.2M in worthless cryptocurrency to Christians
An online pastor and his wife are facing civil fraud charges in Colorado for selling some $3.2 million in a worthless cryptocurrency they created called “INDXcoin” to hundreds of Christians while claiming that God said the investment would make them wealthy.
Colorado Securities Commissioner Tung Chan filed the charges against Eligio “Eli” and Kaitlyn Regalado of Denver, INDXcoin, LLC, Kingdom Wealth Exchange LLC and other parties connected to sales of the cryptocurrency for alleged violations of the anti-fraud, licensing and registration provisions of the Colorado Securities Act, the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies said in a release last Thursday.
The complaint, filed by the Colorado Attorney General’s Office, said investigators from the Colorado Division of Securities found that from June 2022 to April 2023, INDXcoin raised nearly $3.2 million from more than 300 individuals who were recruited as investors from Christian communities in Denver.
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“It was last October that the Lord brought this cryptocurrency to me. He said, ‘Take this to my people for a wealth transfer.’ It has been confirmed a hundred times since,” Regalado reportedly told his followers online on Aug. 22, 2022, according to the lawsuit cited by The Denver Post.
“It is coming, people,” he said. “Part of the making way for His people is to really train them up and teach them how finances work in the Kingdom because many of you very soon are going to have more money than you’ve ever had in your life by participating in this crypto.”
On Nov. 1, that year, however, INDXcoin and Kingdom Wealth Exchange were shut down. Regalado insisted to investors that God had everything under control.
“Stay where you’re at. Stay in INDXcoins. Stay with where I’m telling you to go. I’m going to make a way,” the Lord said to crypto investors, according to Regalado. “Just take that word as gospel truth and execute on that word and do not worry about how the money’s going to happen. I really believe you’re going to see a miracle in very short order.”
Prior to INDXcoins getting shut down, investigators said the coins sold for $1.50 each, payable to Regalado’s Venmo account or wire transfer to the bank account of his marketing firm Grace Led Marketing, which he ran with his wife. According to the lawsuit, investors were told every INDXcoin was worth at least $10 and there were 30 million of them in circulation. The volume of coins in circulation means that the pastor’s firm should have had $300 million to back them but investigators found they had only $30,000.
According to Chan, Regalado and his wife had no experience in cryptocurrency. Even though a third-party auditor’s report allegedly described the couple’s INDXcoin code as unsafe, unsecure, and riddled with serious technical problems they allegedly continued to promote the INDXcoin as a low risk, high profit investment.
In reality, however, “the INDXcoin was illiquid and practically worthless; investors lost millions; and Defendants dissipated investor funds to support their lavish lifestyle,” the release from Chan’s office said.
Citing the pastor and his wife’s bank records, Chan alleges they splurged at least $1.3 million on a Range Rover, jewelry, luxury handbags, cosmetic dentistry, boat rentals, snowmobile adventures, home renovations and an au pair.
“We allege that Mr. Regalado took advantage of the trust and faith of his own Christian community and that he peddled outlandish promises of wealth to them when he sold them essentially worthless cryptocurrencies,” Chan stated. “New coins and new exchanges are easy to create with open source code. We want to remind consumers to be very skeptical.”
Contact: leonardo.blair@christianpost.com Follow Leonardo Blair on Twitter: @leoblair Follow Leonardo Blair on Facebook: LeoBlairChristianPost
