Mugshots of Eli Regalado, left, and Kaitlyn Regalado. (Denver District Legal professional’s Workplace)
A Denver pastor who persuaded 600 folks to spend $3.4 million for a supposedly God-inspired cryptocurrency has been charged with 40 counts of theft, fraud and racketeering.
Eli Regalado, 45, and his wife Kaitlin, 32, have been indicted by a grand jury in Denver this week. They turned themselves in to police and have been launched on bond, court docket information present.
The lengthy checklist of felony prices towards the Regalados arrive 18 months after the Colorado Division of Securities filed a civil lawsuit accusing them of utilizing Christianity to bilk buyers in INDXcoin, a cryptocurrency that can’t be traded or bought, rendering it nugatory.
These allegations and the Regalados’ defenses have been the topic of a three-day civil trial in early Might. The Regalados, representing themselves within the case, have been reprimanded at occasions for sermonizing as they made the argument that INDXcoin patrons didn’t anticipate returns.
“Our entire focus on this trial is to point out how horrible and inconsistent and completely newbie this (Division of Securities) investigation was,” Eli Regalado mentioned in his opening statement.
“We didn’t defraud folks, we didn’t rip-off folks, we’re not predators, we’re not stuffed with greed,” Kaitlyn Regalado mentioned in her personal remarks. “Many individuals obtained saved by this undertaking.”
The couple, who’re skilled entrepreneurs, created INDXcoin in 2021. They bought $3.4 million in cash and spent $1.3 million of that on private bills. The central promise of INDXcoin was that its worth could be listed: Take the value of the 100 most beneficial cryptocurrencies, add them up, divide by 100 and you’d have the value of 1 INDXcoin.
When Kingdom Wealth Alternate, the web market the place INDXcoin was purchased and bought, opened, the listed worth was about $9. However INDXcoin didn’t have wherever close to sufficient liquidity to rebuy at $9 the cash it had bought for $1 or $1.50. So, one unidentified dealer in Canada made a flurry of gross sales, drained the liquidity and compelled its closure.
“One homie simply freakin’ smoked it,” testified Nathanael Enos, a pal of the Regalados.
The Kingdom Wealth Alternate has remained down since closing in November 2023, leaving house owners of INDXcoins with no approach to purchase, promote or commerce their thousands and thousands of crypto.
Eli Regalado speaks to INDXcoin patrons in a since-deleted video on Jan. 19, 2024. (YouTube)
“From the outset, the market for INDXcoin was inherently misleading,” Assistant Legal professional Common Sarah Donahue mentioned in Might, “and the worth of the coin was inherently misleading.”
Denver District Decide Heidi Kutcher has not issued a verdict in that civil case. Donahue and the Division of Securities are looking for $3.4 million from the Regalados.
In the meantime, the couple is scheduled to be in a unique courtroom Thursday morning for a primary look earlier than Decide Karen Brody of their felony circumstances. The 40 felony prices towards them stem from the identical INDXcoin gross sales that have been litigated in Might.
“These prices mark a significant step ahead in our work to carry the Regalados accountable for their alleged crimes and to convey a measure of justice to the victims,” Denver District Legal professional John Walsh mentioned in a information launch Tuesday that thanked the Division of Securities.
Requests for remark from Eli and Kaitlyn Regalado weren’t answered this week.
The 47-page indictment towards them lists dozens of victims whose names are redacted, considered one of whom allegedly misplaced $200,000 to the INDXcoin scheme. That could be Kevin Terrien, a industrial actual property marketing consultant and the one sufferer to testify for the state in Might.
“My crypto pockets had the calculated algorithmic worth of INDXcoin on there, what it might be,” he mentioned then. “However there was no change, so it was a fantasy. It was stardust, man.”
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