Puts the Twinkie defense to shame

Eli Regalado is no ordinary Christian pastor. 

For one thing, his church - Victorious Grace out of Denver Colorado - is online only. (And when I checked, the online presence is, alas, no more...)

But Regalado is also a business man, who on his Linkedin Profile has this tagline: "I love Jesus, people, and business!" (Props for using the Oxford comma, Eli.)

He's Founder and President of Grace Led Marketing, a digital marketing agency founded in 2012 that's "specializing in Kickstarter crowdfunding marketing, product launches, and driving eCommerce sales." (Again, Oxford comma props.)

Since 2022, he's been the full-time CEO of something called INDXcoin, where "You Just Found The Perfect Utility Coin...Your Digital Pass To A Vibrant Community & Exclusvie Content Deisnged to Help You Create Wealth, Discover Your Purpose & Build The Life You Long For." (Looks like Eli dropped the Oxford comma ball on this one, and What's With The Capitalizing Every Word?)

It's Regalado's INDXcoin hustle that's gotten him and his wife Kaitlyn in a bit of a jam. 

They've just been:

...charged with civil fraud for selling a cryptocurrency that regulators described as “practically worthless.” His explanation: God told him to do it — although it’s possible he “misheard.” (Source: WaPo)

Apparently, their grace-led marketing instincts got them to target the local Denver Christian community. By promoting their crypto offering as a "'low risk, high profit investment'" they managed to raise over $3M from this trusting community. Which I guess at least initially confirmed Regalado's instinct that God wanted him to do this. Unfortunately, as Colorado investigators allege, the Regalados' offering "was actually 'illiquid and practically useless.'"

Regalado's sticking with his "the Lord told us to do [it]" defense, which to me puts the Twinkie defense to shame. (The Twinkie defense goes back to the defense mounted by Dan White, who in 1978 assassinated SF's Mayor, George Moscone, and Supervisor (and gay icon) Harvey Milk. A psychiatrist testified that White's mental health problems were exacerbated by his consumption of junk food, including Twinkies. It somewhat worked, in that White ended up being charged with and convicted of manslaughter.)

The Regalados managed to dupe about 300 of their congregation out of more than $3M, and handily pocketed $1.3M for their personal use. Hallelujah! 

They used some of this money on a "'home remodel that the Lord told us to do.'" (No word on whether the Lord also told them to buy a Range Rover and luxury goods like handbags and jewelry.)

Not that Regalado didn't put up a bit of a wrestle:

“I said: Lord, I don’t want to do this. I don’t know how to do this. I don’t have any experience in this industry. I don’t know what I’m doing. I don’t want to be caught up in something.”

But darned if the Lord didn't win that wrestling match and convince Regalado that getting all those investors was grace-led.

Eli Regalado now admits that he may have "misheard God." That or "'God is still not done with this project.'"

For now, the investors are SOL. INDXcoin has been offline since last fall, which means that the investors had no way to cash out. (Not that they ever did...)

But Regalado, in announcing that INDXcoin was offline, did get a few licks in at his congregation/investors:

He suggested investors “stop being ruled by mammon (chasing money)” and “remove all negative talk from the community,” which he complained was being flooded with negative comments.

Wondering if he also recognizes that he just might have been "ruled by mammon" himself.  

Regalado is hoping for a miracle. Maybe if that fails, he'll switch up his defense to the devil made me do it...