Reported by Jesus Jiménez

A pastor in Denver who said that God told him to sell cryptocurrency that could not be cashed is facing civil charges, along with his wife, for marketing a digital coin that prosecutors said was “practically worthless” and using the proceeds to support a “lavish lifestyle.”

The pastor, Eligio Regalado, and his wife, Kaitlyn Regalado, were charged on Thursday in a civil complaint filed in Denver District Court by the Colorado Attorney General’s Office, the Colorado Division of Securities said in a statement. The agency said that the couple created, marketed and sold a cryptocurrency that they called INDXcoin through a cryptocurrency exchange, which they also ran.

Prosecutors said that the couple, who had no experience in cryptocurrency exchanges, marketed the INDXcoin to Christians in Denver, and raised nearly $3.2 million from more than 300 people who bought it from June 2022 to April 2023. Mr. Regalado and his wife then used the money for themselves, the Colorado Division of Securities said.

Mr. Regalado and Ms. Regalado did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Tuesday. It was unclear whether they had a lawyer.

In a video addressing the complaint last week, Mr. Regalado said that he did not want investors to be “mad” at the prosecutors.

“They have to do this,” he said. “I mean, if you think about this: We sold a cryptocurrency with no clear exit. We did. We took God at his word and sold a cryptocurrency with no clear exit.”

Read full report: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/23/us/colorado-pastor-crypto-fraud-eli-regalado.html