(DENVER) — A Colorado-based pastor and his wife are facing fraud charges after they admitted to “pocketing” 1.3 million dollars after selling “worthless” cryptocurrency to faithful followers.

A civil suit was filed against Eligio (Eli) and Kaitlin Regalado by the Colorado Securities Commission.

In a press release on Jan. 18, Colorado Securities Commissioner Tung Chan said, “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.”

In a 9-minute video posted to X, formerly Twitter, Eli Regalado claimed that God told him to sell the cryptocurrency. He also said God told him to do a home remodel, stating: “A few hundred thousand dollars went to a home remodel that the Lord told us to do.”

The complaint filed against Regalado alleges that investors were told they would receive wealth from the Lord if they bought INDXcoin.

The cryptocurrency was offered through the Kingdom Wealth Exchange (KWE), also controlled and operated by Regalado. According to the complaint filed by the Colorado Attorney General’s Office, the INDXcoin was sold to more than 300 people and raised nearly $3.2 million. “New coins and new exchanges are easy to create with open source code,” said Commissioner Chan.  “We want to remind consumers to be very skeptical.”

The civil lawsuit against the Regalados, filed by Chan, claims that the couple spent most of the $1.3 million on luxury items and vacations. According to the press release, the civil suit seeks preliminary and injunctive relief, and damages for investors, but does not include prison time.