Colorado crypto-pastor and wife hawk worthless scheme to followers, spend $1.3 million living it up, but wait: 'the Lord told us to'
Coloradan pastor Eli Regalado and his wife have been accused of marketing a near-worthless cryptocurrency, INDXcoin, to their followers and essentially pocketing the proceeds. But then, the Lord told them to.
The Colorado Division of Securities, per NBC News, said Regalado claimed God had told him people would become wealthy if they invested in the cryptocurrency fraud scheme. It says INDXcoin raised around $3.2 million, and at least $1.3 million of that went straight to the Regalados or was spent «for their own personal benefit», per a complaint filed earlier this week in Denver County District Court (where most of the victims were located).
In a video statement posted to followers last week, Eli Regalado admitted the charges of trousering $1.3 million «are true» and «out of the $1.3 [million], half a million dollars went to the IRS, and a few hundred thousand dollars went to a home remodel the Lord told us to do.»
The Lord moves in mysterious ways, of course. «We took God at his word and sold a cryptocurrency with no clear exit,» said Regalado. «What we're believing still is that God is going to do a miracle. God is going to work a miracle in the financial sector.»
The complaint alleges that the money also went on a Range Rover, luxury goods, an au pair, boat rentals, and jewelry. The couple are charged with violating anti-fraud provisions under the Colorado Securities Act.
Regalado told followers that God had told him they'd become wealthy if they invested in INDXcoin, promoting it as a low-risk investment with high returns. In reality INDXcoin was, in the words of the Colorado Securities Division, «illiquid and practically worthless.»
The online-only Victorious Grace Church was the vehicle for this scheme, and has only two staff: Regalado and his wife. In August 2021 Regalado told followers in a video that «the Lord brought this cryptocurrency to me. He said, ‘Take this to my people for a wealth transfer.’»
It's easy enough to laugh at this stuff, but from June
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