Fresh off a Denver grand jury indictment regarding an alleged cryptocurrency scam, Eligio “Eli” and Kaitlyn Regalado stood shoulder-to-shoulder in front of a district court judge on Thursday morning.

Both husband and wife are out on a $100,000 property bond after being arrested earlier this month on 40 felony charges — including racketeering, theft and securities fraud — following an alleged scheme between January 2022 and July 2023, in which the duo solicited nearly $3.4 million from around 300 investors, according to court records.

The bond conditions also included turning over all travel documents and “intensive pretrial supervision,” according to 2nd Judicial District Judge Karen Brody. The two cannot travel out of Denver county, but they are not required to wear GPS trackers.

Neither suspect was represented by defense attorneys. Eli Regalado noted they did not qualify for public defenders. 

The Regalados were the founders the of online-only Victorious Grace Church and INDXcoin, a religious-themed cryptocurrency that state regulators said was “essentially worthless.”

The duo allegedly used their religious connections to recruit investors, while promising “exorbitant” returns on the investments, the Denver District Attorney’s Office said in a news release. According to the indictment, only a small amount of the proceeds went to the business venture and that the Regalados spent at least $1.3 million on personal expenditures.

Some of these expenditures allegedly included home renovation that the defendants claimed “the Lord” told them to do, a Range Rover and more than $90,000 in traveling and entertainment expenses. All the while, INDXcoin maintained zero value and all of the investors lost all of their money, according to the district attorney’s office.

The suspects argued that INDXcoin was a “utility coin” to join faith-based communities online, not a security, therefore it did not require licensing or registration.