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.
Adam Iza, 26, previously admitted to generating tens of millions of dollars through a fraud scheme, concealing millions in income from the IRS and using his wealth to employ and corrupt sworn law enforcement officers.
U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson ordered that Iza’s term run concurrent with a 15-year prison sentence he is currently serving for his involvement in an attempted robbery of Bitcoin and a kidnapping in Connecticut in August 2024 — meaning he will not serve additional time.
“He cultivated relationships with sworn law enforcement officers and used those relationships to further his personal and financial interests,” Anderson said.
Iza, a former resident of Beverly Hills and Newport Beach, pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy against rights, wire fraud and tax evasion. At least five former sheriff’s deputies tied to the case have been sentenced to prison.
“Judge Anderson is a godsend,” Josef Sadat, Iza’s attorney, said after the sentencing hearing Monday.
As part of his plea agreement, Iza agreed to forfeit several items purchased as part of the conspiracy, including two Mercedes-Benzes, a Ferrari and dozens of luxury handbags from Hermes, Balenciaga and Louis Vuitton. He also handed over a black-and-yellow Jacob & Co. “Godfather” watch and three “Godfather” sculptures.
During the sentencing hearing, Iza said he took “full responsibility” for his actions.
“I just want to make it very clear that I’m not here to skirt the law or make excuses,” he said, as one of his family members cried in the gallery. “I understand what I’ve done and I apologize for it.”
According to his lawyer, Iza grew up poor during his childhood in Iraq, borrowing a computer from his uncle before coming to the U.S. as a teenager and building a lucrative cryptocurrency trading platform known as Zort.
Prosecutors in L.A. had asked for a nearly five-year prison sentence.
“A substantial custodial sentence is necessary to deter other private clients from attempting to corrupt law-enforcement officers by paying them to perform acts they could never lawfully accomplish themselves,” Assistant U.S. Atty. Maxwell Coll said in a sentencing memo.
The judge said that, in weighing the sentence, he considered Iza’s history and characteristics, including childhood displacement from Iraq, separation from his parents, neglect, poverty, physical abuse and prolonged social isolation.
Anderson ordered Iza to pay more than $23 million in restitution to the IRS, as well as $127,000 to one victim and $25,000 to another. A court hearing is set for December to determine what is owed to other victims.
Iza admitted to hiring off-duty sheriff’s deputies to provide him with personal security from August 2021 through April 2022. A slew of crimes occurred over that time, according to his plea agreement.
Iza admitted that he conspired with the deputies to obtain confidential law enforcement information on people he had financial and other disputes with and court-authorized search warrants to track and harass the victims. He further admitted that he enlisted the deputies to intimidate and threaten the victims.
In one case, at Iza’s direction, two deputies unholstered their firearms in August 2021, as Iza demanded that a victim — identified only as R.C. — transfer $25,000 to a Zort bank account that he controlled, according to the plea agreement. Iza also admitted to concocting a plan that resulted in R.C.’s arrest for having illegal drugs in his vehicle.
The following month, a deputy whose security company Iza paid around $100,000 a month misled a narcotics detective, resulting in a drug raid on R.C.’s home.
In October 2021, Iza admitted that, at his direction, deputies he employed restrained another victim — identified only as L.A. — from leaving Iza’s home. During that time, Iza held L.A. at gunpoint and forced him to transfer $127,000 into one of Iza’s bank accounts, according to the plea agreement.
The plea agreement referenced at least two other victims, including one identified as E.Z., who Iza believed possessed a laptop containing large amount of cryptocurrency. Iza admitted that one of his bodyguards brandished a firearm at E.Z., at which point the man ran and called 911.
Iza admitted that, at his direction, deputies obtained personal identifying information on E.Z. and another victim, identified only as D.D, their family members, acquaintances and others. In one case, a deputy lied to get a warrant, falsely claiming he needed to track E.Z.’s cellphone as part of a firearms investigation.
In March 2022, according to the plea agreement, Iza directed an employee to assault D.D. to try and get the laptop with the large amount of crypto. Later, after Iza told a third party about his desire to have E.Z. relinquish the laptop — through use of force if necessary — three armed people forced their way into E.Z.’s home and used firearms to force him to give up the device.
