A self-styled cryptocurrency businessman who branded himself “The Godfather” was sentenced on Monday, October 5, 2026, to 78 months, or six and a half years, in federal prison for hiring off-duty Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) deputies to harass his rivals, defrauding Meta Platforms Inc. of more than $37 million and evading federal taxes on the proceeds.
United States District Judge Percy Anderson imposed the sentence on Adam Iza, 26, formerly of Beverly Hills and Newport Beach, California, and ordered him to pay $23,402,766 in restitution, according to a press release issued on October 5 by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California. Restitution is money a court orders a defendant to repay to the victims of a crime.
The new term will not add time to his imprisonment. It runs concurrently, meaning both sentences are served at the same time, with the 180-month, or 15-year, federal prison term that U.S. District Judge Sarala V. Nagala imposed in Hartford, Connecticut, on September 9, 2026, for Iza’s role in an attempted Bitcoin robbery and kidnapping. The Crypto Times reported on the sentencing at the time.
From Plea Deal to Prison Term
Federal prosecutors filed Iza’s plea agreement on January 17, 2025, and he pleaded guilty that month to one count of conspiracy against rights, one count of wire fraud, and one count of tax evasion. The announcement said the guilty pleas would expose him to a maximum of 35 years in federal prison. The Crypto Times covered the plea deal when it was announced.
Conspiracy against rights is a federal civil rights crime that applies when two or more people agree to injure, threaten, or intimidate someone in the exercise of rights protected by the U.S. Constitution or federal law. Wire fraud covers schemes to obtain money through pretenses using interstate electronic communications such as phone calls, emails, or online transfers.
Iza has been in federal custody since September 24, 2024, after he was charged in the Central District of California.
How Iza Turned Sheriff’s Deputies Into Private Enforcers
According to Iza’s plea agreement, from August 2021 to April 2022 he hired off-duty LASD deputies to provide him with personal security. He admitted conspiring with them to obtain confidential law enforcement information and personally identifiable information (PII), meaning details such as names and addresses that can identify a specific person, about people with whom he had financial and other disputes.
Iza also admitted using court-authorized search warrants obtained through the deputies to track down and harass his victims. While using the nickname “The Godfather,” he enlisted the deputies to intimidate and threaten those victims, prosecutors said.
In a sentencing memorandum, a written filing that sets out what punishment a party believes the judge should impose, prosecutors argued that people with substantial wealth “cannot purchase access to confidential databases, investigative tools, warrants, arrests, badges, or firearms” for use in private disputes.
Five Former Deputies Now Convicted
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said five now-former LASD deputies who worked for Iza stand convicted of federal crimes. The release named four of them.
- Eric Chase Saavedra, 42, of Chino, a former LASD deputy and former federal task force officer, was sentenced on September 28, 2026, to 21 months in federal prison. He pleaded guilty in February 2025 to one count of conspiracy against rights and one count of making and subscribing to a false tax return. Saavedra founded Saavedra & Associates LLC, which provided security to Iza and hired LASD deputies for the work, and used his powers as a sworn officer to improperly obtain search warrants tied to intimidating and harassing Iza’s adversaries.
- Michael David Coberg, 45, of Eastvale, a former deputy and LASD helicopter pilot, is serving a 63-month sentence imposed on March 16, 2026, for helping Iza extort a rival and arrange the sham drug possession arrest of another adversary in Paramount, California, in 2021. The Crypto Times reported Coberg’s sentencing in March.
- Scott Allen Simpkins, 34, of Brea, was sentenced on July 13, 2026, to 18 months in federal prison and fined $10,000 for obstructing a federal investigation by lying that he never saw Iza threaten and extort $25,000 from a party planner at Iza’s Bel Air mansion.
- David Anthony Rodriguez, 45, of La Verne, who had worked for Iza as a private security guard, was sentenced on July 20, 2026, to one year in federal prison after pleading guilty to submitting a false search warrant application to a state court judge on behalf of a different client.
A March 2026 release from IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), the law enforcement arm of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), identified another LASD deputy, Christopher Michael Cadman of Fullerton, who pleaded guilty in August 2025 to federal charges. According to that release, Cadman took part in the August 2021 intimidation that led to a $25,000 payment to Iza and helped set up the false arrest in Paramount.
The $37 Million Meta Advertising Scheme
In a separate scheme that ran from December 2020 to September 2024, Iza fraudulently gained access to Meta business manager accounts and their associated lines of credit. Business manager accounts let companies manage their advertising, pages, and billing on Meta platforms such as Facebook and Instagram in one place. Iza then sold access to the compromised accounts and credit lines to various advertising companies.
From 2020 through 2022, Iza received approximately $37 million tied to those sales into his companies’ bank accounts from domestic and international payers. As a result, Meta clients were billed for, and paid for, advertising they did not place. When Meta or its clients discovered the fraudulent charges, Meta refunded the clients and absorbed the loss.
Tax Evasion and Crypto Custodians
Iza admitted that from 2020 through 2023 he received at least $36,360,844 in gross income from the Meta scheme, causing a total loss of $13,286,152 to the IRS. He knowingly failed to file corporate tax returns during that period.
He further evaded federal taxes by concealing his ownership of his company, Zort, including his communications with advertising clients, by having a co-schemer use the money to buy personal items for both of them, and by moving his corporate income to cryptocurrency custodians. Crypto custodians are firms that hold and safeguard digital assets on behalf of their clients. Zort was described in earlier Associated Press reporting as a crypto trading company.
In a related case, Iris Rabaya Au, 37, of Irvine, was sentenced on September 21, 2026, to 18 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $1,484,343 in restitution. She was also ordered to forfeit a fleet of luxury and high-performance cars, designer handbags, and three “Godfather” sculptures, among other assets. Au pleaded guilty in March 2025 to one count of subscribing to a false tax return after failing to report more than $2.6 million in illicit gains she obtained through Iza’s criminal activities.
The Connecticut Bitcoin Kidnapping Case
Iza’s longer sentence stems from events in Danbury, Connecticut. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Connecticut, Danbury police on August 25, 2024, arrested six Florida men involved in the violent carjacking of a Lamborghini Urus and the kidnapping of its two occupants. Investigators found that the victims were the parents of a person who took part in the theft of hundreds of millions of dollars in Bitcoin.
Prosecutors said Iza and others planned and coordinated the attempted robbery, and ultimately the kidnapping, in an effort to steal some of that Bitcoin. Iza communicated with some of the kidnappers by cellphone and encrypted messaging applications, directed the logistics of the scheme, and provided funding. An alleged co-conspirator who had an altercation with the victims’ son at a Miami nightclub in July 2024 also helped fund the plot and arrange the participants’ transportation and lodging, according to the office.
Iza pleaded guilty on June 1, 2026, to conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery, a charge known as Hobbs Act robbery under the federal law that makes robbery affecting interstate commerce a crime. In addition to the 180-month term, Judge Nagala ordered three years of supervised release, a period of court monitoring that follows a prison sentence.
Iza’s brother, Saif Faiq, pleaded guilty to the same offense and awaits sentencing. The six men who carried out the carjacking and kidnapping have also pleaded guilty, while other alleged co-conspirators await trial.
Who Investigated the Case
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and IRS-CI investigated the Los Angeles case, with assistance from the LASD. Assistant United States Attorney Maxwell K. Coll of the office’s National Security Division prosecuted it.
The Connecticut case was investigated by the FBI New Haven Violent Crimes Task Force, FBI Los Angeles, FBI St. Louis, and the Danbury Police Department, and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Karen L. Peck.
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