Pastor Said God Told Him To Remodel Home After Selling $1.3M Worth Of 'Worthless Crypto' To Followers

Colorado-based online pastor Eli Regalado, who is also the founder of INDXcoin, has publicly admitted to fraud charges.

What Happened: The pastor, facing accusations from the Colorado Securities Commission, revealed in a video confession that he and his partner Kaitlin Regalado misappropriated $1.3 million.

The video, lasting nine minutes and shared on the INDXcoin website, shows Regalado addressing the community, “The charges are that Kaitlin and I pocketed $1.3 million, and I just want to come out and say those charges are true.”

The couple was charged on January 18 for their involvement in distributing and promoting INDXcoin, which has been deemed a fraudulent token. 

The INDXcoin was also offered through the Kingdom Wealth Exchange (KWE), an online cryptocurrency exchange that they created, controlled and operated.

"Katelyn and I are being charged in a civil charge from the Colorado Securities and Exchange Commission for basically selling millions of dollars worth of cryptocurrency that is deemed worthless by the state. And the reason that they’re seeing that it’s worthless is because there is no exit for people who have bought," Regalado said adding, "We launched an exchange, the exchange, technology failed, things went downhill. And from that point forward, we’ve just been, we’ve just been waiting on the Lord, literally for a miracle."

Colorado Securities Commissioner Tung Chan said that Regalado allegedly exploited the Christian community’s trust. “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.”

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Why It Matters: From the mid-2022 to early 2023 period, Regalado’s enterprise garnered around $3.2 million from over 300 investors via the so-called Kingdom Wealth Exchange. The majority stemmed from his online congregation at Victorious Grace Church, where he serves as a pastor. 

Regalado further explained the expenditure of these funds, stating half were allocated to taxes, and a notable portion funded a God-instructed home renovation.  "But out of that 1.3, half a million dollars went to the IRS and a few $100,000 went to a home remodel that the Lord told us to do."

"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," said Commissioner Chan. "New coins and new exchanges are easy to create with open source code.  We want to remind consumers to be very skeptical."

Regalado ended operations of the Kingdom Wealth Exchange on November 1, citing insufficient funds to maintain its internal servers and claiming financial hardship. In conjunction with the closure notice, he urged token holders to desist from selling INDXcoin and to reject the pursuit of wealth.

Price Action: At the time of writing, apex cryptocurrency Bitcoin BTC/USD was trading at $41,133 down 1.12% in the last 24 hours, according to Benzinga Pro.

Photo by Avi Rozen on Shutterstock

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