A federal judge in Los Angeles has sentenced Adam Iza, the 26-year-old self-described cryptocurrency figure who called himself “The Godfather,” to 78 months in prison and ordered him to pay $23,402,766 in restitution after he admitted using money from a large Meta (NASDAQ: META) advertising fraud to pay off-duty Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies.
US District Judge Percy Anderson imposed the term on October 5, 2026.
It will run at the same time as the 15-year federal sentence Iza is already serving for his role in an attempted Bitcoin robbery and kidnapping in Connecticut, so the California punishment does not lengthen the time he is expected to spend in custody.
Iza has been detained since September 2024.
He pleaded guilty in January 2025 to conspiracy against rights, wire fraud, and tax evasion.
From August 2021 through April 2022, Iza hired off-duty deputies as private security.
According to his plea, he worked with them to obtain confidential law-enforcement records, personal identifying details, and court-authorized search warrants so he could locate people with whom he had financial and other disputes.
Deputies also intimidated and threatened those individuals on his behalf. Prosecutors later argued that wealth does not entitle anyone to purchase warrants, arrests, badges, or firearms for use in private conflicts.
Five former deputies have been convicted for work connected to him.
Eric Chase Saavedra, 42, a former deputy and federal task-force officer who set up the security firm that supplied personnel, received 21 months.
Michael David Coberg, 45, is serving 63 months after helping extort a rival and arranging a staged drug arrest.
Scott Allen Simpkins, 34, was sentenced to 18 months for obstructing an investigation into a $25,000 extortion at Iza’s Bel Air mansion.
David Anthony Rodriguez, 45, received a year for submitting a false search-warrant application.
A fifth former deputy has also been convicted in the related cases.
Separately, beginning in December 2020, Iza obtained access to Meta business-manager accounts and the credit lines attached to them, then resold that access to advertising firms.
Clients were billed for placements they never ordered.
When the charges were discovered, Meta refunded the advertisers and absorbed the loss.
Roughly $37 million moved into accounts tied to Iza’s companies between 2020 and 2022.
He admitted receiving at least $36,360,844 in gross income through 2023, filing no corporate returns, and causing the IRS a loss of $13,286,152.
To conceal the money he hid his ownership of a crypto platform called Zort, used associates to buy personal items, and shifted corporate proceeds to cryptocurrency custodians.
An associate, Iris Rabaya Au, 37, his former girlfriend, was sentenced in September to 18 months and ordered to pay more than $1.4 million in restitution after failing to report over $2.6 million tied to the schemes.
She was also ordered to forfeit luxury vehicles, designer handbags, and three “Godfather” sculptures. The California restitution order covers the tax loss and certain individual victims, with a further hearing set to address remaining claims.
