Eli Regalado said the charges were true but he was only following God’s word. | Courtesy: Brooks Elliott/Getty Images
KEY HIGHLIGHTS
- A pastor charged with cryptocurrency fraud said God told him to do it in his dream.
- Eligio Regalado and his wife allegedly sold a ‘worthless’ cryptocurrency with no clear exit to his followers.
- The couple is accused of using the funds raised for personal benefit.
An online pastor who has been charged with fraud for pocketing $1.3m through a cryptocurrency scam claims God made him do it. Eligio Regalado, and his wife Kaitlyn are accused of selling a ‘worthless’ cryptocurrency to their followers in Denver, Colorado, but he maintains that “the Lord” told him to syphon the money.
The couple co-founded, marketed and sold a cryptocurrency named INDXcoin through a cryptocurrency exchange, also run by them, raising close to $3.2 million from over 300 buyers between June 2022 and April 2023, the Colorado Division of Securities said, citing a civil complaint filed in Denver District Court by the Colorado Attorney General’s Office.
“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,” Colorado Securities Commissioner Tung Chan said in a statement.
“The complaint alleges that Regalado targeted Christian communities in Denver and claimed that God told him directly that investors would become wealthy if they put money into INDXcoin.”
The Victorious Grace Church, an online-only church where Regalado serves as a pastor, raised most of the more than $3 million.
He uploaded a video statement last week, admitting that he was rightly charged with fraud—although he was only following what God told him in his dream.
“The charges are that Kaitlyn and I pocketed $1.3 million, and I just want to say that those charges are true,” Regalado said in the clip.
“So there’s $1.3 million that’s been taken out of — I think it was a total of $3.4 million. But out of that $1.3, half a million dollars went to the IRS [Internal Revenue Service as tax] and a few hundred thousand dollars went to a home remodel that the Lord told us to do.”
The pastor further stated that he did not want investors to be angry about his prosecution.
“I mean, if you think about this: We sold a cryptocurrency with no clear exit. We did. We took God at his word and sold a cryptocurrency with no clear exit.”
The Regalados spent the illicitly-raised money to buy a Range Rover, luxury handbags, and jewellery, while also hiring an au-pair, renting boats and other recreational activities.