Pastor is facing a civil suit after selling worthless cryptocurrency to his congregation and collecting $1.3 million, using some of it to rebuild his home; he claims he was merely doing what God taught him.
Eli Regalado and his wife, Kaitlyn, are facing a civil complaint saying they marketed the so-called INDXcoin to fellow Christians in Colorado, promising heavenly promises that investors would become wealthy.
According to a complaint filed by the Colorado Attorney General's Office, detectives discovered 300 people invested $3.2 million (Ksh.520,416,000) in something Regalado and his wife claimed God supported.
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According to a news statement from the Colorado Division of Securities, the state agency that governs the securities market, the couple, who manage an online church, had no prior expertise with Bitcoin.
Faced with the fraud claims, Regalado reaffirmed his message of a God-given purpose, even admitting to spending the money for home improvements, which he said was also a divine directive.
"So the charges are that Kaitlyn and I have pocketed $1.3 million, and I just want to come out and say that those charges are true," he stated in a video posted on an INDXcoin investor forum.
"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."
According to the complaint, the pair spent money on various expensive products, including a Range Rover, jewelry, designer handbags, and snowmobile vacations.
Facing the legal action launched in Denver last week, Regalado said there could have been some communication glitches on his hotline to God, but he remained optimistic that the Big Man would come through in the end.
Colorado Securities Commissioner Tung Chan said potential investors in get-rich-quick scams should not take them at face value.
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