‘The Lord told us to’: US pastor says he stole $1m from Christians to remodel home
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
A Colorado pastor who is charged with stealing more than $1m from his Christian community in a cryptocurrency scheme has admitted to the fraud but argued that God instructed him to carry it out.
Eli Regalado and his wife, Kaitlyn, are charged with creating and selling their cryptocurrency, known as “INDXcoin”, to Christians based in their home town of Denver, Colorado, allegedly telling would-be investors that the Lord had told him people would become rich if they invested, the state’s division of securities announced in a press release Thursday.
But INDXcoin was “practically worthless” in reality, prosecutors said in the statement. Investors lost millions of dollars while the Regalados used their investments for lavish living.
In a video statement about the charges, Eli admitted that the couple had squandered $1.3m that was raised through cryptocurrency.
“The charges are that me and Kaitlyn pocketed $1.3m,” Regalado said in the video published to INDXcoin’s website Friday. “I just wanted to come out and say those charges are true.”
Regalado added: “A few hundred thousand dollars went to a home remodel the Lord told us to do.
“We took God at his word and sold a cryptocurrency with no clear exit.”
Regalado added that the couple still believes that God will “work a miracle in the financial sector”.
In total, INDXcoin raised about $3.2m from more than 300 people between June 2022 and April 2023. The Regalados took at least $1.3m of that – more than half – for personal, luxury purchases, including jewelry, an au pair, and a pricey home renovation project.
The Regalados also pocketed at least $290,000 for their online-only church, Victorious Grace Church, despite there being no physical location for it, BusinessDen reported .
The Regalados additionally had no experience with cryptocurrency. A third-party auditor also said the INDXcoin code had major technical problems, but the Regalados continued to market the cryptocurrency as a low-risk, high-reward option.
Eli had claimed to investors that an amount of the raised money would be used to help widows and orphans. But those purported payments were also personally spent by the Regalados, the Denver Post reported.
“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,” Colorado securities commissioner Tung Chan said in Thursday’s statement, adding that consumers should remain “very skeptical”.
Civil fraud charges have been filed against the Regalados as prosecutors allege the couple violated several tenants of the Colorado Securities Act.
The couple is scheduled to appear in Denver state court in the coming days, NBC News reported .
The Regalados did not respond to the Guardian’s request for comment.
Both INDXcoin and the Kingdom Wealth Exchange – where INDXcoin was exclusively available – were shut down on 1 November, BusinessDen reported.
Tags
Who is online
289 visitors
Proving once again that a fool and his money are soon parted or that you can fool some of the people all of the time
Hallelujah, praise the Lord and pass the crypto.
is it really any surprise that scam artists target the religious?
"The Lord saith...Go forward and rip off your neighbors" First Fraud, Chapter 1, Verse 1
meh, he was probably told by geezus that he was forgiven too.
I have a real hard time feeling sorry for gullible suckers, especially the get rich quick religious variety...
I'm pretty sure that's not god telling him to steal from others. Then again, with so many others using the Lord to rip off people who am I to say their god ain't a giant prick?
claiming to hear the voice of the almighty has always been a big endorsement, for those most susceptible to fraud...
To quote the late, great Flip Wilson:
"The Devil made me do it!"
I'll bet Jim and Tammy Faye Baker would have got along famously with the Regaldos!
Lol
they would be swingers
most of tammy faye's female friends were either marykay or avon reps...
Well, she was obviously keeping them in business.
you’re making that up …
we used to bet on how long of a time between the start of the show and when her waterworks started...
Sounds like another Pastor Blair.
The promise that died with Pastor Charles Blair | The Latest Word | Denver | Denver Westword | The Leading Independent News Source in Denver, Colorado
I drove by his church twice a day, 5 days a week, for 11 years. prime real estate in denver's cherry creek neighborhood. the bankruptcy court should have seized it and auctioned it and the land off to pay back the victims.
I've been thru that neighborhood. It is nice
it was a neighborhood of million dollar homes 40 years ago. I did a telecommunications installation in a mansion across the street from that thumper madrasa back in the 80's and the owner had to have one of her maids accompany me because I kept getting lost in their big ass house.
So, my pastor and his wife, whom I only ever see online cuz they don't have an actual church building, have invented a cryptocurrency that they say I should invest in. I don't know if they know cryptocurrency from their own asses. But it'll be fine. They told me God said it would be fine. And the living room where they hold "church" services via internet looks really nice, so I'm sure they know what they're doing.
walking around in life with a financial kick me sign stuck to their backs...
Honestly, it's hard to muster up any sympathy for their marks.
I'll bet a bunch of folks in their "congregation" will forgive them. Hell, maybe they can even get some TV show selling emergency food buckets and Jeezus like Jim Bakker.
for several years my ex in-laws got leaned on hard by their church of 60+ years to leave their estate to the church. MIL then dies and not a peep from their church clergy to my FIL about it, even after SIL calls church to inform them about the loss of her mom, a member of the parish, and trying to get the death notice in the church newsletter and make church funeral arrangements. she is then informed those are not free services of the church.
their mackerel snapper madrasa finally sends one of their child molesters out to find out why 2 elderly members that attended services 2-3 times a week and contributed thousands of dollars to their religious scam for the last 60+ years are now missing services. coincidentally, this happens on the day of the funeral and afterwards as the family/friends are gathered at the home. FIL is so upset upon seeing the designated papist stooge walking up their sidewalk, my BIL intercepts him outside and walks him back to the street with me close behind. BIL explains the family's extreme disappointment with the church to his now former priest and is polite and respectful before walking back into the house.
not being a member of any church, and knowing about the persistent efforts of that church to be remembered in their wills, I wasn't so nice and cautioned the celibate scam artist not to risk visiting the home again. my SIL had previously taken over her parents finances and mail collection, because their names had made a bunch of sucker lists for bullshit charities. she related to the family that well after the death of her mother the church was still trying to make contact with her dad and were still asking for handouts.
Wow! I'm pretty sure Jesus said to abandon the sick
that church has a reputation of rotating the criminal element of rcc clergy thru it's doors for over 6 decades.
I sense sarcasm
Just a little bit.
God is a real creep.
he's got the thumpers to micro manage humanity for him on earth...
Cause its creator was probably a psychopath.
In the beginning, Yahweh loved the smell of burning flesh - including human.
Anyone enjoying the 3 sessions of the Righteous Gemstones, I thought I’d was a great black comedy about a mega church with John Goodman playing the straight-man patriarch, Danny McBride the shows creator plays the eldest son who wants to tack over from daddy but his lewd and lascivious behavior keeps getting in the way. The middle daughter is cheating on her husband and the youngest son is gay. Flash backs provide context and you can see how a likely, legitimate small church grew increasingly corrupt as the power and money grows. It even has a militia movement in the story line. Great fun.
ripping off the sheep,
ripping off the sheep.
his new church is in prison,
for ripping off the sheep.
geezus loves him,
this he knows.
they give him money,
for ice and blow.
Why would a god need money for any reason?
Yeah, George Carlin was also perplexed by that:
a voice of sanity sorely missed...