Online pastor and wife charged with civil fraud for selling worthless cryptocurrency to Colorado Christians
An online pastor and his wife face civil fraud charges in Colorado for selling some $3.2 million worth of a worthless cryptocurrency they created, called “INDXcoin,” to hundreds of Christians , while claiming that God said this investment would make them rich.
Colorado Securities Commissioner Tung Chan filed charges against Eligio “Eli” and Kaitlyn Regalado of Denver, INDXcoin, LLC, Kingdom Wealth Exchange LLC and other parties related to cryptocurrency sales for alleged violations of the provisions Anti-Fraud, Licensing and Registration Act of the Colorado Securities Act, the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies said in a statement late Thursday.
The complaint, filed by the Colorado Attorney General’s Office, says Colorado Securities Division investigators discovered that between June 2022 and April 2023, INDXcoin raised nearly $3.2 million from over of 300 people recruited as investors in Christian communities in Denver.
“It was last October that the Lord brought me this cryptocurrency. He said, ‘Bring this to my people for a wealth transfer.’ It’s been confirmed a hundred times since,” Regalado allegedly told his online Christian followers on August 22, 2022, according to the lawsuit cited by the Denver Post.
However, on November 1 of the same year, INDXcoin and Kingdom Wealth Exchange were shut down. Regalado insisted to Christian investors that God had everything under control. “Stay where you are. Stay in INDXcoin.
Stay where I tell you to go. I will make a way,” the Lord told crypto investors, according to Regalado. “Just take this word as gospel truth and execute it without worrying about how the money is going to come. I truly believe that you will see a miracle in a very short time.”
Before INDXcoins shut down, investigators said the coins were selling for $1.50 apiece, payable to Regalado’s Venmo account or by wire transfer to the bank account of his marketing company Grace Led Marketing, which he led with his wife.
According to the lawsuit, investors were told that each INDXcoin was worth at least $10 and that there were 30 million of them in circulation. The volume of coins in circulation means the pastor’s company should have had $300 million to support them, but investigators found it only had $30,000.
According to Chan, Regalado and his wife had no experience with cryptocurrency. Even though a third-party auditor’s report reportedly described the couple’s INDXcoin code as unsafe, insecure, and riddled with serious technical issues, they allegedly continued to promote INDXcoin as a low-risk, high-profit investment.
