Denver Pastor Ordered to Repay $3.39M After Court Rules Crypto Tokens Defrauded 600 Church Members
Denver District Court Judge Heidi Kutcher ordered pastor Eligio “Eli” Regalado Jr. and his spouse Kaitlyn to repay $3.39 million after ruling their INDXcoin crypto scheme defrauded over 600 church members and Christian neighborhood buyers.
The judgment follows a three-day bench trial the place the court docket discovered the couple dedicated securities fraud by promoting nugatory tokens between June 2022 and April 2023.
‘False Prophets’ Weaponize Faith for Multi-Million Dollar Crypto Fraud
Colorado Securities Commissioner Tung Chan referred to as the Regalados “twenty first century false prophets who leveraged promising cryptocurrency expertise to run an old style rip-off, victimizing their very own congregants.”
The case gained worldwide consideration when Eli Regalado admitted in a viral YouTube video to utilizing investor funds for private bills, together with a “residence transform the Lord informed us to do.”
The Denver couple raised $3.4 million from greater than 300 people regardless of having zero crypto expertise and receiving a safety audit rating of 0 out of 10.
They promised INDXcoin would commerce on their Kingdom Wealth Exchange, which collapsed after at some point of operation. The Regalados used investor cash for luxurious purchases, together with jewellery, designer garments, and a Range Rover.
A Denver grand jury individually indicted both defendants on 40 criminal counts in July, including to a rising sample of faith-based crypto fraud focusing on spiritual communities throughout the United States.
A Denver-based on-line pastor and his spouse have been indicted on 40 legal counts tied to a cryptocurrency fraud scheme.#Denver #Pastorhttps://t.co/9xHutwdz34
— Cryptonews.com (@cryptonews) July 23, 2025
Religious Leaders Exploit Sacred Trust Through Fraudulent Crypto Schemes
The Regalado case joins a number of situations of pastors and non secular figures weaponizing congregational belief for cryptocurrency fraud.
Back in August, federal courts awarded the CFTC $228.6 million against Eddy Alexandre, who exploited his church place and Haitian neighborhood standing to defraud over 25,000 buyers of $262 million via his EminiFX scheme.
Alexandre marketed EminiFX as an “funding membership” promising 5% to 9.99% weekly returns via non-existent “robo-assisted advisor” expertise.
He enlisted congregation members to recruit extra buyers, leveraging sacred relationships to increase the fraudulent operation throughout ethnic and non secular communities.
Court paperwork revealed Alexandre diverted a minimum of $15 million in investor funds to private accounts, buying luxurious automobiles, together with a BMW, whereas his buying and selling platform misplaced cash throughout 24 of its 30 weeks of operation.
The pretend expertise claims centered on proprietary algorithms that by no means existed all through the scheme’s eight-month length.
CFTC wins $228M judgment in opposition to pastor who ran crypto Ponzi promising 5-10% weekly returns, defrauding 25,000 buyers.#Ponzi #Cryptohttps://t.co/2eLsOeMuMg
— Cryptonews.com (@cryptonews) August 20, 2025
Washington state witnessed comparable exploitation when former Spanish-speaking church pastor Francier Obando Pinillo allegedly orchestrated a multiyear fraud, elevating $5.9 million from over 1,500 buyers.
December final yr, the CFTC alleges Pinillo promised up to 34.9% monthly profits via his “Solanofi” platform utilizing proprietary buying and selling bots he described as “risk-free.”
Pinillo added multi-level advertising and marketing parts, providing 15% referral charges to prospects who recruited family and friends.
He offered pretend on-line dashboards permitting buyers to observe supposed earnings whereas working a basic Ponzi scheme utilizing later investor funds to pay earlier individuals.
Colorado has emerged as a major battleground in opposition to crypto fraud, with state investigators documenting a lot of crypto-related scams leading to losses exceeding $81 million as of final yr.
Recent incidents embrace refined legislation enforcement impersonation scams the place fraudsters satisfied victims to ship Bitcoin below threats of arrest warrants.
A Keystone resident lost over $6,000 in Bitcoin after scammers posed as deputies threatening arrest for lacking jury responsibility, whereas a Denver girl misplaced practically $5,000 following comparable techniques.
Scammers more and more use caller ID spoofing to seem as official legislation enforcement businesses, as seen not too long ago in a $2.8M UK theft case.
These scammers exploit the irreversible nature of crypto transactions, which makes fund restoration practically unattainable.
Bank workers have prevented extra losses by stopping residents from transferring 1000’s in crypto after receiving suspicious calls.
Since final yr, the FBI Denver workplace has issued public warnings highlighting instances the place fraudsters particularly focused spiritual communities, noting the aggressive and persuasive techniques employed by cryptocurrency scammers.
In truth, throughout this primary half of this yr alone, crypto investors lost over $2.2 billion to hacks, scams, and breaches, with phishing assaults accounting for $410 million throughout 132 incidents.
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