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Pastor accused of $3M scheme to rip off parishioners says perhaps he ‘misheard God’

A pastor says he may have misunderstood his divine instruction after being accused of a scheme to defraud his parishioners out of $3.2 million, the Washington Post reported Tuesday.
Eligio Regalado, who goes by Eli, and his wife, Kaitlyn Regalado, are being charged by the Colorado Securities Commissioner.
According to the legal filing, the Regalados invented their own Christian cryptocurrency which they sold through the Kingdom Wealth Exchange, an online body they also created. The cryptocurrency went under the name INDXcoin.
"The action, filed in Denver District Court, seeks preliminary and injunctive relief, damages for investors and for a constructive trust to be placed on the Defendants’ property," described the release from Commissioner Tung Chan.
From June 2022 to April 2023, INDXcoin scored nearly $3.2 million thanks to investments by more than 300 people in the "Christian community," the legal filing states. Regalado, who is based in Denver, said that God directly told him investors would be wealthy if they threw all of their money into INDXcoin.
"The Lord said: I want you to build this,” Regalado told individuals, according to the filing. “We took God at his word and sold a cryptocurrency with no clear exit.”
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“Either I misheard God, and every one of you who prayed and came in — you as well. Or two, God is still not done with this project,” Regalado said, implying that it would still deliver.
The couple had no experience in cryptocurrency, the Washington Post reported. A third-party audit called the effort "unsafe, unsecured and riddled with serious technical problems." The legal filing called it practically worthless.
“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,” said Commissioner Chan. “New coins and new exchanges are easy to create with open source code. We want to remind consumers to be very skeptical.”
‘Pure, uncut Trumpism’ now infects GOP so much there’s ‘nothing he can do to lose’: report

Republican voters have already shown they overwhelmingly prefer to keep Donald Trump in control of their party.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis dropped out Sunday after falling short in Iowa, and Nikki Haley could be out of the race soon unless she surprises in New Hampshire, showing that GOP voters don't want Trump "lite" when the real deal is running for his third nomination, reported Wall Street Journal columnist Molly Ball.
"What the GOP’s most loyal voters want, it seems, is pure, uncut Trumpism — with all the baggage and ideological divergence from traditional conservatism that entails," Ball wrote.
"Between DeSantis’s withdrawal and Haley’s having little apparent path forward barring a major upset, the race could well be effectively over by Wednesday, the party having passed up yet another opportunity to turn the page on a polarizing, multiply-indicted fabulist who lost the last election and has never won the popular vote."
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Both Haley and DeSantis tried to appeal to voters who liked Trump but would prefer an alternative, but the Iowa results and polls in New Hampshire and elsewhere make clear Republicans have no interest in turning the page on the former president, Ball wrote.
“The Republican Party we knew isn’t coming back,” the anti-Trump Republican Sarah Longwell posted on X. “GOP voters don’t want it back. They don’t want limited government, free markets, and American leadership in the world. They want isolationism, an authoritarian crackpot president, and a big government that enforces their worldview.”
The party's Reaganites thought they might wait for the fever to break and reclaim the party, but anti-Trump Republicans think that will never happen, she wrote.
“I’m never surprised — that went out the window six or seven years ago — but I can’t lie, I’m still profoundly disappointed,” said former GOP congressman Joe Walsh, who launched a long-shot challenge against Trump in 2020. “The fact that Trump incited and led an insurrection and they didn’t throw him into Siberia proved there’s nothing he can do to lose the base.”
‘This is how communism starts’: MTG suggests SCOTUS ruling will spark civil war

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) scolded the U.S. Supreme Court after justices ruled that President Joe Biden's administration could remove razor wire placed at the border by Texas officials.
During an interview on Tuesday, Real America's Voice correspondent Ben Bergquam asked Greene about the recent Supreme Court ruling.
"And you, I noticed you mentioned the disastrous unconstitutional ruling by the Supreme Court yesterday, basically allowing the federal government to allow an invasion on our southern border," Bergquam stated. "How concerned are you with that and then the implications that that could have with their decisions around President Trump on the ballots going forward, especially with this lawfare weaponization of the justice system against President Trump?"
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"Right. This is how communism starts," Greene replied. "I was just talking to a New Hampshire voter right here, an independent, and he was saying that statism is a concern, that big government is a concern. That's what the Biden administration absolutely has brought is big, powerful government, which is communism."
"I'm extremely concerned about that Supreme Court ruling," she continued. "We literally saw a ruling that's going to put the federal government at war with the state of Texas. What's going to be happening with the Border Patrol? What is going to be happening with Texas law enforcement? Are we actually going to see them fighting with one another?"
Greene called the ruling "the most radical, devastating thing that we have seen happen in a Supreme Court ruling, and I think Texas needs to stand their ground and we should join Texas in their fight against the federal government to defend their state, defend their border, defend their people."
"And I'm calling for that right now," she added.
Trump defamation trial postponed as juror falls sick and Alina Habba claims to have fever

Alina Habba, an attorney for Donald Trump, convinced a federal judge to postpone her client's defamation trial on Monday.
Moments after Monday's hearing started, Habba asked U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan to adjourn because her parents had been exposed to COVID-19, according to reports.
At the same time, a juror who was on their way to the trial began to feel sick, according to reports.
"Trump won't be taking the stand today [because] everyone's going home," reporter Molly Crane-Newman wrote. "Juror No. 3 was 'on the way to the city but feeling hot and nauseous' this morning."
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"Alina Habba, who is beside Trump and not wearing a mask, tells the court she's had a fever. Kaplan grants a 1-day adjournment," she added.
Trump is accused of defaming writer E. Jean Carroll when he denied raping her. His testimony was expected this week.
Before adjourning, Kaplan denied another request for a mistrial from Trump's attorneys.
E. Jean Carroll lawyer expected to slam Trump with new evidence after adjournment: expert

Asked about what to expect when Donald Trump does make an appearance at the E. Jean Carroll defamation trial — which was set to restart Monday before being adjourned for a day because of illness — MSNBC legal analyst Lisa Rubin explained that court attendees can expect Carroll's legal team to submit a barrage of new evidence against the former president.
"Morning Joe" co-host Mika Brzezinski, prompted Rubin, asking, "Where does this go after today? How much longer do you expect this to play out until they decide what the damages are?"
"I think it really depends on who testifies," Rubin replied. "There's one thing I know for sure is going to happen, and that is E. Jean Carroll's side is going to call Robbie Myers, she's E. Jean's former boss at Elle magazine. She is the editor-in-chief. She's going to testify to the damage to her reputation. After Robbie Meyers gets off the stand, I expect E.Jean Carroll's lawyers will further confront President Trump with some of his prior statements."
"Usually, you have to have a witness in the chair to introduce evidence. One exception is party admissions," she elaborated. "You know, Mika, as well as I do, the former president has given a series of depositions in which he said things that might be relevant to this case, even though the depositions were far afield from whether or not he defamed or sexually abused Carroll."
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"The New York attorney general's case where he was deposed, he says a number of things about his net worth, brand value, how much cash on hand, all of which could be highly relevant to a jury considering punitive damages," she added.
Trump had been expected to take the stand on Monday, but a juror fell ill on the way to court and then the former president's lawyer complained of having a fever. The judge agreed to postpone the hearing for a day, which would have Trump testify on the day of the New Hampshire primary.
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Trump asks judge in E. Jean Carroll case to delay trial for New Hampshire primary

Donald Trump's attorney has asked a federal judge to postpone the former president's defamation trial so her client can campaign for the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday.
The request came at a Monday hearing over allegations Trump defamed writer E. Jean Carroll after raping her. The judge had announced an adjournment of Monday's hearing for a day after a juror fell sick and the attorney, Alina Habba, complained of having a fever.
Trump had been expected to take the stand. The one-day adjournment would mean he gives testimony on the day of the primary.
Habba asked U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan to postpone Tuesday's trial while New Hampshire voters cast their ballots.
ALSO READ: Marjorie Taylor Greene wants GOP leaders to coronate Trump — right now
Attorneys for Carroll opposed the request. Kaplan declined to rule immediately.

