Crypto ‘Godfather’ and LA deputy plead guilty to extortion, tax crimes

A crypto businessman known as “The Godfather” and a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputy have agreed to plead guilty to federal charges.

The charges include conspiracy to violate civil rights, wire fraud and tax crimes. according to at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles.

Adam Iza, 24, and LASD Deputy Eric Chase Saavedra, 41, face prison sentences for their roles in a scheme involving intimidation, extortion and abuse of law enforcement powers to target victims.

Iza, who previously lived in wealthy neighborhoods like Bel Air and Newport Coast, has been in custody since September 2024. Saavedra, who owned a private security company, used his law enforcement credentials to help Iza .

Extortion, theft and tax evasion

Court documents reveal that Iza hired off-duty deputies, paying up to $100,000 a month, to act as enforcers against his professional and personal rivals.

Saavedra, working for Iza through his security company, frequently accessed confidential law enforcement databases to gather private information on Iza’s adversaries. He also obtained fraudulent search warrants to facilitate intimidation and theft.

One such warrant, falsely linked to a firearms investigation, allowed Saavedra to locate a victim suspected of possessing a laptop containing $100 million in cryptocurrency. In January 2022, Iza orchestrated a botched armed robbery to take the laptop. Faced with the victim’s resistance, Iza then sent him a video of the attempted theft.

In another incident, Iza used armed officers to force a victim to transfer $25,000 from his bank account and then had the victim arrested under false pretenses. The scheme also involved Iza stealing more than $37 million by hacking into Facebook advertising accounts to fund his operations.

Both Iza and Saavedra admitted to tax evasion. Iza evaded more than $6.7 million in federal income taxes in 2021, while Saavedra failed to report $373,146 in income the same year.

Iza faces up to 35 years in federal prison, while Saavedra could receive up to 13 years. Both are expected to make their first court appearance in the coming days.