Grand Jury Charges Pastor, Wife in Alleged Multi-Million Dollar Cryptocurrency Scam

A Denver expansive assemblage has indicted a joined mates connected 40 counts of theft, fraud and deceit, for allegedly operating a multi-million-dollar cryptocurrency scam that mostly targeted churches, the Denver District Attorney announced successful a property merchandise connected Tuesday.

Between 2022 and July 2023, Eli Regalado, who is besides a pastor who preaches astatine the Victorious Grace Church, and his woman Kaitlyn, the lone different worker astatine the religion which they big astatine their home, allegedly solicited astir $3.4 cardinal from investors looking to bargain their INDXcoin cryptocurrency from their Kingdom Wealth Exchange.

The mates targeted Christians from their religion arsenic good arsenic different churches to bargain their cryptocurrency, promising immense returns, the territory lawyer alleged, but successful the extremity the INDXcoin maintained zero worth and much than 300 investors mislaid their money. The Regalados spent $1.3 cardinal of the proceeds from their token income connected idiosyncratic expenditures, similar a location renovation, the indictment said.

The INDXcoin whitepaper stated that the coin was “engineered to turn arsenic the cryptocurrency marketplace explodes by benchmarking the world’s apical 100 cryptocurrencies, allowing users to capitalize connected maturation portion mitigating risk.” However, the indictment said this was deceptive.

"Eli and Kaitlyn Regalado deceived prospective and existent investors, and did not disclose to them: that Defendants lacked liquidity to enactment the magnitude of INDXcoin past outstanding and that INDXcoin was not 'pegged' to a definite worth oregon the mean of the top-100 cryptocurrencies successful the world, but alternatively was backed by fundamentally nary assets whatsoever and had nary existent value," the indictment said.

Colorado Securities Commissioner Tung Chan initially filed charges against the brace past year. In March the pastor appeared successful a video connection and stated that the "charges are true." He besides said astatine the clip the task was thing helium believed God had told him to do.

"The Lord told america to locomotion distant from our parking company. ... [H]e took america into this cryptocurrency ... well, that cryptocurrency turned retired to beryllium a scam.... And I said Lord ... you told maine to bash this," helium said successful the video.