Crypto

A Colorado pastor accused of pocketing $1.3 million in cryptocurrency scam says the Lord encouraged him to use funds for a home remodel

Published

12 months ago

January 23, 2024

A Colorado pastor accused of pocketing .3 million in cryptocurrency scam says the Lord encouraged him to use funds for a home remodel

A Colorado pastor and his wife are being accused of selling “practically worthless” crypto.
Eli Regalado said many of the charges were true but insisted it was a result of his inexperience.
Regalado also said the Lord told him to use investor funds to remodel his home.

A Colorado pastor facing civil fraud charges related to his cryptocurrency business admitted to pocketing $1.3 million but says he used part of it for a biblically ordained home remodel.

Eli Regalado and his wife, Kaitlyn Regalado, are being sued in Denver District Court by Colorado Securities Commissioner Tung Chan, who accused the couple of targeting Christians to invest in their cryptocurrency INDXcoin, despite it being “illiquid and practically worthless,” according to a press release from the Colorado Department of Regulatory agencies.

Local outlet BusinessDen first reported on the lawsuit on Thursday.

“We allege that Mr. Regalado took advantage of the trust and faith of his own Christian community and that he peddled outlandish promises of wealth to them when he sold them essentially worthless cryptocurrencies,” Chan said in a press release. “New coins and new exchanges are easy to create with open-source code. We want to remind consumers to be very skeptical.”

The lawsuit seeks to recoup losses that Chan claims investors incurred and have a constructive trust placed on the remodeled home — a court remedy for those found liable for unjust enrichment.

In a Friday response on the INDXcoin website, Regalado spoke about the lawsuit, saying that it was true that they had ‘sold a cryptocurrency with no clear exit,’ but stated that God directed him and that missteps were made due to inexperience. Regalado also noted that his goal was to get investors their money back.

“So the charges are that Kaitlyn and I pocketed $1.3 million, and I just want to come out and say that those charges are true,” Regalado said in his video address. “So there’s $1.3 million that’s been taken out of — I think it was a total of 3.4 million. But out of that 1.3, half a million dollars went to the IRS and a few $100,000 went to a home remodel that the Lord told us to do.”

The Regalados declined to comment to Business Insider.

A crypto investment better than heaven

Regalado operates the online Victorious Grace Church, which has no physical location. In August of 2022, he came to his congregation over a video call to deliver a message that the Lord instructed him to get into cryptocurrency, per court documents obtained by Business Insider. He and his wife founded INDXcoin and Kingdom Wealth Exchange — a platform to buy and sell crypto.

“It was last October ’21 that the Lord brought this cryptocurrency to me,” Regalado told his congregation over video broadcast, per court documents. “He said ‘take this to my people for a wealth transfer.’”

Chan writes in the complaint that Regalados sold nearly $3.4 million in crypto in 2022 and part of 2023. Per the complaint, the couple assured prospective investors that INDXcoin was “safer than other currencies.”

Chan writes in the lawsuit that around 30 million coins were in circulation, sold for $1.50 a coin, with the promise that each coin was worth at least $10. The Regalados had, at most, $30,000 backing the coins — far less than the $300 million worth of assets they should have had.

Regalado addressed why he valued the coins at 10 times the amount: The Lord told him to.

“If someone bought $1,000 worth of INDXcoin, we would basically give them an INDX amount of $10,000 — so 10x on top of it,” Regalado said. “And I’m like, ‘Where’s this liquidity gonna come from’ and the Lord says, ‘Trust me.’”

According to the complaint, Kingdom Wealth Exchange and INDXcoin were eventually shut down in November of 2023 because they did not have the liquidity available.

The Regalados assured investors worried about their money that it would soon come.

“Stay in INDXcoins…just take that word as gospel truth and execute on that word and do not worry about how the money’s going to happen. I really believe you’re going to see a miracle in very short order,” Regalado told investors in a video call, per the lawsuit.

However, the Regalados had pocketed at least $1.3 million in investor money to spend on luxury items, cosmetic dentistry procedures, an au pair, home renovations, and boat and snowmobile rentals, per financial records subpoenaed by Chan’s office. The couple also used investor funds to finance a Range Rover and pay off a loan on a Ford F-150.

According to court documents, an additional $290,000 was sent to their online church — of which the couple are the sole beneficiaries. The lawsuit claims the Regalados told investors they were sowing this money into charitable causes.

“Defendants have ensured that the investors will never recoup their funds because they took the investment money for their own benefit,” the lawsuit reads.

Judge David Goldberg, overseeing the civil case against the Regalados, ordered their bank accounts be frozen for 14 days and that the couple stop selling securities in the state while the case continues.

The couple has an upcoming hearing on January 29.

Related Topics:advertisement chan couple crypto cryptocurrency indxcoin eli regalado fund home remodel investor lawsuit lord money new coin pastor regalados

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Crypto

Trump launches meme coin ahead of inauguration

Published

5 hours ago

January 18, 2025

Press Room

Trump launches meme coin ahead of inauguration

Analysis: Trump plans to take Greenland, Canada, and Panama Canal

On Tuesday, President-elect Trump refused to rule out military action to pursue his unprecedented vow to take Greenland and the Panama Canal — plus absorb Canada. Why has he set his sights on expanding beyond the United States’ borders? Jim discusses that with Jim Zirin of Washington Monthly on “The Final 5.”

President-elect Donald Trump has launched a new meme coin called $TRUMP. He made the announcement in a post on Truth Social post late Friday, describing the cryptocurrency as a celebration of “WINNING” the presidential election.

Analysts say it has the potential to make a lot of money for Trump and his family, but some ethics experts say it’s another effort to cash in on the nation’s highest office.

What is the $TRUMP coin?

The new Trump-backed meme coin is a cryptocurrency token with an image of Trump following his assassination attempt.

It was developed by Solana, a cryptocurrency and blockchain company, with a limited supply of 200 million $TRUMP coins at initial launch. The supply will expand to 1 billion coins over the next three years, the coin’s website states.

The remaining tokens that haven’t been put up for sale yet are owned by the Trump Organization affiliate CIC Digital LLC and Fight Fight Fight LLC, a company formed in Delaware on Jan. 7, state filings show. Forbes reports that both companies will receive an undisclosed amount of revenue from the coin trade.

By the numbers:

The price of $TRUMP increased by more than 300% to just below $29 as of 10:15 a.m. ET Saturday. It reached a market cap of $5.81 billion, according to CoinMarketCap data obtained by Forbes.

$TRUMP disclaimer

There’s a disclaimer on the $TRUMP website stating that the token is “not intended to be, or the subject of” an investment opportunity nor a security of any type, and is “not political and has nothing to do with” any political activity or government agency.

RELATED: Millionaire says he’s buried $2M in hidden treasures across the US

Why are meme coins risky?

Dig deeper:

Although all cryptocurrency carries risk, meme coins can be especially risky for traders, an expert told CNBC.

“Meme coins are among the riskiest of cryptocurrencies because they seem to emerge from nowhere and information about them can be sparse,” he says. “They’re expected to soar and plummet as the public sentiment shifts this way and that. Meme coins may capture the public’s fancy today and be gone tomorrow.”

Why are Trump’s meme coins considered unethical?

The other side:

Ethics attorneys called the latest venture by Trump and his family a blatant effort to profiteer from the presidency.

“It is literally cashing in on the presidency — creating a financial instrument so people can transfer money to the president’s family in connection with his office” Adav Noti, executive director of Campaign Legal Center, a nonprofit ethics group, told The New York Times. “It is beyond unprecedented.”

Crypto surges after Trump win

The backstory:

The price of bitcoin topped $100,000 again early Friday as a pumped up cryptocurrency industry expects early action by Trump when he’s sworn in as president next week.

RELATED: Crypto markets surge after Trump’s election victory

Once a skeptic who said a few years ago that bitcoin ” seems like a scam,” Trump has embraced digital currencies with a convert’s zeal. He vowed on the campaign trail to take steps early in his presidency to make the U.S. into the “crypto capital” of the world.

His promises including creating a U.S. crypto stockpile, enacting industry-friendly regulation and event appointing a crypto “czar” for his administration.

“You’re going to be very happy with me,” Trump told crypto-enthusiasts at a bitcoin conference last summer.

By the numbers:

According to Forbes, bitcoin hit several new record highs after Trump’s win, surpassing $100,000 within a month of Election Day. Roughly $1.8 trillion was added to the global crypto market’s aggregate market value in 2024, and $1 trillion of that was since Election Day, according to CoinGecko via Forbes.

Other Trump merchandise

Big picture view:

Trump’s meme coin is one of several products he has launched in recent years. He has a line of perfumes and colognes, along with “Trump Watches” celebrating his election win. His pre-win “Trump Watches” were valued up to $100,000 in September, and there was also the debut of $100 silver coins, 1,000 pairs of limited edition sneakers, $60 Trump-branded bibles and NFT cards, according to Forbes. Trump also released a line of signed and unsigned guitars sold at $11,500 and $1,500 each, respectively, for $4.6 million in sales.

Trump has received the bulk of his merchandise revenue through his NFTs, which reportedly earned him about $7.2 million in licensing fees.

Donald J. TrumpMoney

Crypto

Commerce Nominee Lutnick Is Backer of Outlaws’ Favorite Cryptocurrency

Published

13 hours ago

January 18, 2025

Press Room

Commerce Nominee Lutnick Is Backer of Outlaws’ Favorite Cryptocurrency

To the crypto company Tether, the account was identified only by a 31-character string: TTAHMdqoom4f2VTWniroPWQHcTRZ4ca.

It’s a cryptocurrency wallet address, one of more than 300 million around the world that have held Tether tokens and make up a global unregulated payments network. Unlike a bank or fintech company, Tether collects no personal information about most of its users. Anyone can open a crypto wallet and move money with Tether quickly, cheaply and anonymously.

Crypto

Bitcoin enthusiasm rides high as Trump prepares to take presidential office

Published

21 hours ago

January 18, 2025

Press Room

Bitcoin enthusiasm rides high as Trump prepares to take presidential office

Bitcoin adjacent stocks got a substantial lift after the cryptocurrency’s price jumped over $104,000 on Friday.

Bitcoin mining behemoth, Mara Holdings (NASDAQ: MARA) was the biggest and most vocal, climbing by 13 per cent. It was followed closely by Riot Platforms (NASDAQ: RIOT), MicroStrategy Inc (NASDAQ: MSTR) at 7 per cent and Coinbase Global Inc (NASDAQ: COIN) at 5 per cent.

The original cryptocurrency’s good fortunes have been at the behest of Donald Trump’s election victory, based on the optimistic take that the incoming administration will take a more favourable approach to crypto, and Bitcoin in particular.

In December, Trump appointed Paul Atkins to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission. Atkins, who previously served as an SEC commissioner under President George W. Bush, has recently focused on digital assets. He is set to replace Gary Gensler, widely regarded as a crypto critic. Trump will also likely replace several SEC commissioners whose terms are set to expire during his administration.

Furthermore, crypto advocates and holders will soon shape U.S. policy on the emerging technology, following a series of nominations and advisory appointments by President-elect Donald Trump, who takes office on Monday.

The crypto industry, after years of battling lawsuits and enforcement actions by the U.S. government, hopes the Trump administration will signal a policy shift. Officials will vet political appointees for potential conflicts, and some appointees have pledged to sell their interests.

The industry will host a sold-out black-tie ball in Washington on Friday, with ticket prices ranging from USD$2,500 to USD$10,000. David Sacks, serving as Trump’s artificial intelligence and crypto czar, plans to attend.

Read more: BlackRock launches Bitcoin ETF in Canada

Read more: Cryptocurrency fugitive Do Kwon extradited to US

Trump’s tenure will be cryptocurrency friendly

The reasons for the optimism surrounding the cryptocurrency’s future don’t necessarily begin and end with Trump either.

The president-elect has filled his inner-circle with a number of different cryptocurrency friendly personalities, most of whom are well-known and well-respected in the space.

Scott Bessent, a billionare hedge fund manager, is Trump’s pick for Treasury Secretary. He has expressed favourable views on cryptocurrency. According to a financial disclosure filed last month, Bessent holds shares in a BlackRock bitcoin exchange-traded fund valued between $250,001 and $500,000.

“Crypto is about freedom and the crypto economy is here to stay,” he said in July. “I think everything is on the table with bitcoin.” ‘

In a letter to the U.S. Treasury last week, Bessent stated he would divest his interests in the fund and other investments within 90 days of his confirmation.

Further, Trump selected Tesla’s chief and the world’s richest man to lead a government cost-cutting initiative called the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

Elon Musk, a longtime advocate for cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and dogecoin, has significantly influenced their prices through his public comments and the actions of his companies. The acronym for Musk’s cost-cutting agency, DOGE, references dogecoin, now the seventh-largest cryptocurrency with a circulation value of $4.5 billion, according to CoinGecko.

In 2021, Tesla purchased $1.5 billion in bitcoin, making it one of the largest companies to invest in cryptocurrency before selling most of its holdings. By September 2024, Tesla reported holding $184 million in unspecified digital assets, according to a financial statement. Musk did not respond to a request for comment via Tesla regarding his personal cryptocurrency holdings.

Read more: Tether Limited sets up first brick and mortar office in El Salvador

Read more: Cryptocurrency fugitive Do Kwon extradited to US

Trump to encourage leadership in crypto

Vice President-elect J.D. Vance held between USD$250,001 and USD$500,000 in bitcoin as of August 2024, according to a financial disclosure.

Vance co-founded the venture capital firm Narya, which has invested in Strive, Ramaswamy’s asset management company, and the video platform Rumble, as indicated on its website. In November, Rumble announced plans to allocate its excess cash reserves to bitcoin. The company also received a USD$775 million investment from stablecoin firm Tether last year.

When asked for comment on the crypto stances of Vance and Trump’s sons, Trump-Vance transition spokesperson Brian Hughes stated—without providing evidence—that bureaucrats in Washington had attempted to stifle innovation with increased regulation and higher taxes.

“President Trump will deliver on his promise to encourage American leadership in crypto and other emerging technologies,” he said in a statement.

Finally, set to collaborate with Musk at DOGE, former presidential candidate and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy is the founder of Strive Asset Management.

Strive reported managing over USD$1 billion in assets as of September, and filed last month to launch an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that invests in corporate bonds for bitcoin investments.

In November, the company launched a wealth management arm aimed at integrating bitcoin into Americans’ investment portfolios, according to a press release from Ramaswamy.

In June 2023, Ramaswamy disclosed holding between $100,001 and $250,000 in bitcoin and between $15,001 and $50,000 in ether, a smaller cryptocurrency.

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