Crypto Journalist
Anas Hassan
Crypto Journalist
Anas Hassan
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Denver District Court Judge Heidi Kutcher ordered pastor Eligio “Eli” Regalado Jr. and his wife Kaitlyn to repay $3.39 million after ruling their INDXcoin crypto scheme defrauded over 600 church members and Christian community investors.
The judgment follows a three-day bench trial where the court found the couple committed securities fraud by selling worthless tokens between June 2022 and April 2023.
‘False Prophets’ Weaponize Faith for Multi-Million Dollar Crypto Fraud
Colorado Securities Commissioner Tung Chan called the Regalados “21st century false prophets who leveraged promising cryptocurrency technology to run an old-fashioned scam, victimizing their own congregants.”
The case gained international attention when Eli Regalado admitted in a viral YouTube video to using investor funds for personal expenses, including a “home remodel the Lord told us to do.”
The Denver couple raised $3.4 million from more than 300 individuals despite having zero crypto experience and receiving a security audit score of 0 out of 10.
They promised INDXcoin would trade on their Kingdom Wealth Exchange, which collapsed after one day of operation. The Regalados used investor money for luxury purchases, including jewelry, designer clothes, and a Range Rover.
A Denver grand jury separately indicted both defendants on 40 criminal counts in July, adding to a growing pattern of faith-based crypto fraud targeting religious communities across the United States.
Religious Leaders Exploit Sacred Trust Through Fraudulent Crypto Schemes
The Regalado case joins multiple instances of pastors and religious figures weaponizing congregational trust for cryptocurrency fraud.
Back in August, federal courts awarded the CFTC $228.6 million against Eddy Alexandre, who exploited his church position and Haitian community standing to defraud over 25,000 investors of $262 million through his EminiFX scheme.
Alexandre marketed EminiFX as an “investment club” promising 5% to 9.99% weekly returns through non-existent “robo-assisted advisor” technology.
He enlisted congregation members to recruit additional investors, leveraging sacred relationships to expand the fraudulent operation across ethnic and religious communities.
Court documents revealed Alexandre diverted at least $15 million in investor funds to personal accounts, purchasing luxury cars, including a BMW, while his trading platform lost money during 24 of its 30 weeks of operation.
The fake technology claims centered on proprietary algorithms that never existed throughout the scheme’s eight-month duration.
Washington state witnessed similar exploitation when former Spanish-speaking church pastor Francier Obando Pinillo allegedly orchestrated a multiyear fraud, raising $5.9 million from over 1,500 investors.
December last year, the CFTC alleges Pinillo promised up to 34.9% monthly profits through his “Solanofi” platform using proprietary trading bots he described as “risk-free.”
Pinillo added multi-level marketing elements, offering 15% referral fees to customers who recruited friends and family.
He provided fake online dashboards allowing investors to track supposed profits while operating a classic Ponzi scheme using later investor funds to pay earlier participants.
Colorado has emerged as a significant battleground against crypto fraud, with state investigators documenting a large number of crypto-related scams resulting in losses exceeding $81 million as of last year.
Recent incidents include sophisticated law enforcement impersonation scams where fraudsters convinced victims to send Bitcoin under threats of arrest warrants.
A Keystone resident lost over $6,000 in Bitcoin after scammers posed as deputies threatening arrest for missing jury duty, while a Denver woman lost nearly $5,000 following similar tactics.
Scammers increasingly use caller ID spoofing to appear as official law enforcement agencies, as seen recently in a $2.8M UK theft case.
These scammers exploit the irreversible nature of crypto transactions, which makes fund recovery nearly impossible.
Bank staff have prevented additional losses by stopping residents from transferring thousands in crypto after receiving suspicious calls.
Since last year, the FBI Denver office has issued public warnings highlighting cases where fraudsters specifically targeted religious communities, noting the aggressive and persuasive tactics employed by cryptocurrency scammers.
In fact, during this first half of this year alone, crypto investors lost over $2.2 billion to hacks, scams, and breaches, with phishing attacks accounting for $410 million across 132 incidents.
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