A pastor in Colorado suspected of stealing $1.3 million through a Bitcoin fraud scheme said that God directed him to do so.
According to a statement filed last week by the Colorado Division of Securities, Eli Regalado, and his wife advertised their cryptocurrency firm, INDXcoin, to Christian organizations in Denver, telling them that the Lord had promised him that if they invested in his plan, they would become wealthy.
Regalado and his wife generated roughly $3.2 million through INDXcoin, with at least $1.3 million going to the pair or being “used for their benefit,” according to a lawsuit filed in Denver County District Court on Tuesday.
The two were charged with breaching anti-fraud sections of the Colorado Securities Act and are set to appear in Denver District Court next week. In a video address issued to his congregation last week, Regalado stated that the claims that they took $1.3 million “are true.”
“Out of the $1.3 [million], half a million dollars went to the IRS, and a few hundred thousand dollars went to a home remodel the Lord told us to do,” Regalado can be heard saying in the film.
The pair reportedly used the money to purchase a Range Rover, designer luggage, jewelry, vacations, and other items.
Colorado Securities Commissioner Tung Chan said she brought the civil fraud charges after customers who invested and lost money through INDXcoin informed her of the situation.
“We allege that Mr. Regalado took advantage of the trust and faith of his Christian community and that he peddled outlandish promises of wealth to them when he sold them essentially worthless cryptocurrencies,” Chan said in a written statement.