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A Colorado pastor and his wife are being accused of selling "practically worthless" crypto.
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Eli Regalado said many of the charges were true but insisted it was a result of his inexperience.
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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.