A pastor and his wife have been busted for a multi-million dollar cryptocurrency scam that they claim ‘the Lord’ instructed them to do.
Eli and Kaitlyn Regalado, who founded the online-only Victorious Grace Church, were indicted by a Denver grand jury on Tuesday for the operation they ran taking advantage of their faith community from January 2022 to July 2023.
The Regalados solicited nearly $3.4million from investors to buy INDXcoin, which they created and marketed, according to the Denver District Attorney’s Office.
They allegedly used their faith-based connections to find investors and promised them ‘exorbitant returns’, stated the office.
In reality, just a small portion of the proceeds went to the business venture, according to the indictment.
‘The Regalados spent at least $1.3 million on personal expenditures, including a home renovation that they have allegedly claimed “the Lord” told them to do,’ stated the office.
Meanwhile, INDXcoin had no value and investors lost virtually every thing they put into it.
The married couple have been indicted on 40 counts of securities fraud, racketeering and theft around the scam.
‘These charges mark a major step forward in our work to hold the Regalados accountable for their alleged crimes and to bring a measure of justice to the victims,’ stated District Attorney John Walsh.
Walsh commended the ‘outstanding work’ of his investigators and prosecutors and officials from the Colorado Attorney General’s Office and Colorado Division of Securities, that led to the indictment.
Colorado Securities Commissioner Tung Chan’s office in January had alleged that Eli ‘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’.
But the Regalados argued that INDXcoin was a ‘utility coin’ to join faith-based communities instead of a security, and for that reason did not need to be licensed or registered.
Eli attacked Chan in a YouTube video posted on July 4, 2024.
‘You are a liar, liar, liar. I hope you get back in the office after your holiday and you see this and you see what you’ve done,’ said Regalado to Chan.
‘Shame on you. You’re a crook.’
The pastor claimed that they tithed $290,000 to their church and also provided $245,000 to other churches.
‘It’s our church. Where else are we going to tithe?’ Eli said.
‘That’s where God had us in our assignment.’
The Regalados were expected to appear in court on Thursday.
They were indicted two-and-a-half years after a south London preacher was found guilty of fraud after selling ‘plague protection oil’ as a fake cure for the coronavirus.
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