A self-described cryptocurrency “godfather” was sentenced this week in downtown Los Angeles to over six years behind bars on conspiracy and other federal charges.
Adam Iza, 26, who lived in Beverly Hills and Newport Beach, was a self-styled crypto businessman and hired off-duty Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies to act as his personal enforcers against his enemies.
As part of the conspiracy, Iza had the deputies assist him in carrying out extortion, intimidation, setting people up for arrest, and abuse of legal process, prosecutors said.
Iza, who has been in federal custody since September 2024, pleaded guilty in January 2025 to one count each of conspiracy, wire fraud, and tax evasion.
He admitted to conspiring to violate the civil rights of victims, committing wire fraud and dodging federal income taxes on more than $36 million, according to his plea agreement filed in Los Angeles federal court.
Iza is already serving a 15-year federal prison sentence for his involvement in an attempted robbery of bitcoin and a kidnapping in Connecticut in August 2024.
Iza admitted hiring Eric Chase Saavedra, 42, of Chino, once a Los Angeles County sheriff’s detective in the anti-gang unit.
Saavedra was sentenced last week to nearly two years behind bars for violating the civil rights of victims through intimidation, illegal search warrants and other abuses of law enforcement power. Saavedra ran a private security company as a side hustle, providing L.A. County deputies and other law enforcement officers as hired muscle, according to court documents.
Beginning in 2021, Iza hired Saavedra’s firm to provide round-the-clock security at a typical cost of $100,000 per month. Iza used the company periodically until his arrest, prosecutors said.
Saavedra admitted to illegally using his sheriff’s credentials to access sensitive law enforcement databases and obtain information about people Iza had personal or business disputes with, as well as their associates and family members.
In one case, Saavedra created a fake search warrant that he used to intimidate someone, according to his plea agreement. In another, the deputy admitted, he misled a narcotics detective, resulting in a drug raid on the home of a man Iza had extorted.
Saavedra further admitted to receiving nearly $373,146 in unreported income and filing a false tax return for 2021.
Saavedra was the fifth former L.A. County deputy to be sentenced in the Iza case. They received prison sentences ranging from a year to over five years.