Crypto 'godfather' who used L.A. sheriff's deputies against his enemies sentenced to prison
Prosecutors said he recruited off-duty deputies to intimidate victims and seize cryptocurrency, and at least five former deputies have been sentenced.
- On Monday, Adam Iza, a Los Angeles-based cryptocurrency businessman known as "The Godfather," was sentenced to more than six years in prison and ordered to pay more than $23 million in restitution for using Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies to harass enemies and defraud Meta.
- Iza hired off-duty Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department deputies as personal enforcers, paying roughly $100,000 monthly to intimidate victims, execute illegal search warrants, and force financial transfers including $127,000 from one victim at gunpoint.
- Former Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department detective Eric Chase Saavedra, who ran a private security firm for Iza, was sentenced last week to nearly two years for carrying out the criminal bidding of Iza.
- U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson ordered the term to run concurrent with a 15-year prison sentence Iza is currently serving for an attempted Bitcoin robbery and kidnapping in Connecticut in August 2024, meaning he will not serve additional time.
- During the sentencing hearing, Iza said he took "full responsibility" for his actions, which involved dodging federal income taxes on more than $36 million after growing up in Iraq and building the cryptocurrency trading platform Zort.
13 Articles
13 Articles
Crypto Entrepreneur Sentenced to Prison for Fraud, Tax Crimes
A self-described cryptocurrency “godfather” was sentenced Monday in downtown Los Angeles to over six years behind bars on conspiracy and other federal charges. Adam Iza, 26, who formerly lived in Beverly Hills and Newport Beach, was a self-styled crypto businessman who hired off-duty Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies to act as his personal enforcers against […]
Crypto 'Godfather' Who Hired Cops To Extort Gets 6.5 Years
A Los Angeles-based cryptocurrency businessman who called himself "The Godfather" was sentenced Monday to more than six years in prison and ordered to pay more than $23 million in restitution for getting Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies to harass his enemies and for separately stealing from Meta, federal prosecutors announced.
Hastings Tribune
Crypto 'godfather' who used L.A. sheriff's deputies against his enemies sentenced to prison
A self-styled cryptocurrency businessman who paid Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies to set people up for arrest and extort money from others was sentenced Monday to more than six years in prison.
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