Eli Regalado, an American preacher, and his spouse are accused of scamming hundreds of Christians out of millions of dollars through a cryptocurrency scheme.
The Colorado Attorney General’s Office filed a complaint alleging that between June 2022 and April 2023, Eli Regalado and his wife, Kaitlyn, received at least $1.3 million in the alleged conspiracy.
Investigators discovered that 300 people invested $3.2 million in a scheme that Regalado and his spouse thought had divine approval.
The pair, who manage an online church, had no prior Bitcoin knowledge, but Regalado maintained he was merely following God’s instructions.
The villages, under the Joint Community Development Association (CDA), voiced their displeasure with the epileptic power supply they had been experiencing lately in a letter dated January 16 that NAN was able to get on Wednesday.
Several community chairmen and secretaries signed the document, including Pastor Kayode Akinbule and Ademola Adedeji (Progressive); Gbenga Ibikunle and Raphael Olaboade (Oorelope); and Layi Oliyide and Innocent Owokotomo (Heritage).
The others were Rev. Sina Alausa (Ire-Akari), Dolapo Adewumi, Elder Odunmorayo, and Segun Odewumi (Ore-Ofe).
“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.”
The couple allegedly also spent funds on luxury items, including a Range Rover, jewelry, swanky handbags and snowmobile trips, the complaint stated.
Facing the legal action, which was filed in Denver last week, Regalado conceded it was possible there had been some communication issues on his hotline to God, though he was still holding out hope that he would come through in the end.
“We took God at his word and sold a cryptocurrency with no clear exit.
“Either I misheard God… or God is still not done with this project.
“What we’re praying for… is that God is going to work a miracle in the financial sector. He is going to bring a miracle into INDXcoin,” he stated.
Colorado Securities Commissioner, Tung Chan, said potential investors in get-rich quick schemes would be wise not to take them at face value.
“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,” Chan said.
“New coins and new exchanges are easy to create with open source code. We want to remind consumers to be very skeptical.”
