On-line Pastor Eligio “Eli” Regalado, who was not too long ago ordered to repay nearly $3.4 million in restitution for promoting some $3.2 million in worthless cryptocurrency to his Christian followers, beforehand served time in jail for auto theft, in line with court docket data. His ex-wife alleges that he has been a recognized “con man” for some time.
“He is a snake oil salesman,” Nicole Brown, Regalado’s ex-wife, advised CBS News, “but it surely’s all for his personal achieve. Eli is a con man and I really feel for anybody who has been conned of their cash in this crypto scheme. I hope he goes to jail for a really very long time.”
In September, a Denver decide ordered Regalado and his present spouse, Kaitlyn, to pay restitution to their victims in response to a civil lawsuit that claimed the couple and INDXcoin LLC dedicated securities fraud in violation of the Colorado Securities Act.
They’re nonetheless additionally dealing with 40 counts of fraud in a separate criminal case filed in July. The couple, who declare they had been being led by God, additionally splurged not less than $1.3 million of investor funds on a Vary Rover, jewellery, luxurious purses, beauty dentistry, boat leases, snowmobile adventures, house renovations, and an au pair.
State prison data cited by CBS Information present Regalado pleading responsible to theft in Jefferson County in 2000. He pleaded responsible to third-degree assault in reference to a 2001 incident. In 2004, he pleaded responsible to a DUI and was arrested in 1999 for aggravated motorcar theft, for which he was sentenced to eight years in jail.
“I discovered it astonishing that folks would give him tens of 1000’s of {dollars} for this (crypto) factor, however figuring out who he’s and the way he might spin issues, it virtually made sense in the worst manner,” Brown mentioned.
Responding to the information about his previous, Regalado declined to make any remark to CBS Information besides, “Our God whom we serve will ship us.”
Brown, who was married to Regalado from 2017 via 2020, says she, too, was conned by him and claims she was coerced into getting married. She mentioned she was simply 23 when she met him, and he was 37.
“He advised me, ‘In case you do not marry me, you do not love me.’ So I felt manipulated,” the 32-year-old Denver girl mentioned.
Brown advised CBS Information that she solely discovered about Regalado’s prison background earlier than she left him and acquired a divorce.
“He advised me he had been to jail twice, once for stealing cars. He advised me he would costume up as a valet and steal cars that manner. And racketeering, additionally making faux licenses for folks,” Brown mentioned.
Brown mentioned Regalado was by no means non secular after they acquired married and he or she suggests he used faith to leverage his background in advertising and marketing startups as a solution to “get wealthy fast.”
“He simply thought, I will pivot and now I will imagine in God and I will discover a new viewers to evangelise to and get their cash,” she mentioned.
“He was all about get wealthy fast — he needed to take folks’s cash and promote them lies after which he would revenue off it,” Brown mentioned
He started “talking in tongues” and mentioned “God was speaking to him,” she recalled. “It was similar to he went mad.”
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