A Bel Air man who called himself a cryptocurrency "Godfather" was sentenced Wednesday, Sept. 9, to 15 years in federal prison. Adam Iza, 26, received 180 months followed by three years of supervised release for his role in a Bitcoin kidnapping scheme in Connecticut, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Connecticut announced.
The sentence caps a sprawling federal case that also exposed how Iza hired off-duty Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department deputies to carry out extortion and intimidation from his Bel Air home, KTLA reported.
Iza, who previously lived in Beverly Hills, pleaded guilty June 1 to conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery. The charge stems from an Aug. 25, 2024, carjacking and kidnapping in Danbury, Connecticut, where six Florida men seized a Lamborghini Urus and abducted the vehicle's two occupants. Federal prosecutors said the victims were the parents of a person involved in the theft of hundreds of millions of dollars in Bitcoin.
Iza communicated with the kidnappers through encrypted messaging apps, directed logistics and provided funding, according to prosecutors.
Deputies as enforcers
The Connecticut case is only part of Iza's legal exposure. In a separate California case, Iza admitted in his plea agreement to hiring off-duty LASD deputies as enforcers against perceived enemies, using them for extortion, intimidation and sham arrests, MyNewsLA reported.
One incident laid out in court documents occurred in August 2021 at Iza's Bel Air mansion. A party planner had been removed from an event the previous day.
Then-deputies Scott Allen Simpkins and Christopher Michael Cadman escorted the planner into Iza's office. Inside, Iza allegedly placed four or five live 9mm rounds on his desk, made threats and demanded $25,000 be transferred from the victim's bank account. The money was transferred before the deputies escorted the victim out, prosecutors said.
Simpkins and Cadman were each paid $1,400 for their shifts at the party and later received a cash bonus for helping secure a long-term security contract with Iza, according to Brentwood News.
Iza then hired Saavedra & Associates, an unlicensed private security firm owned by then-deputy Eric Chase Saavedra, at a typical cost of $100,000 per month for round-the-clock protection from August 2021 to March 2022, court papers show.
Five deputies convicted
Five former LASD deputies have pleaded guilty or been sentenced in connection with the ring. Simpkins, 34, a former SWAT team member, was sentenced July 14 to 18 months in prison after admitting he lied to FBI agents to protect Iza. Former deputy Michael David Coberg is serving 63 months for helping Iza extort a rival and stage a sham arrest in Paramount in 2021.
Former deputy David Anthony Rodriguez, 45, was sentenced July 20 to 12 months for filing a false search warrant on behalf of a private client, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Saavedra and Cadman have pleaded guilty. Both await sentencing.
Federal prosecutors wrote in July 2026 sentencing filings that the deputies' conduct was a calculated abuse of authority, not impulsive or a momentary lapse, Century City-Westwood News reported.
Iza has been in federal custody since September 2024. He pleaded guilty in January 2025 in California to conspiracy against rights, wire fraud and tax evasion. His brother, Saif Faiq, pleaded guilty to the same robbery conspiracy charge in the Connecticut case and is awaiting sentencing.
The LASD said in a July 2026 statement that the deputies' actions were unacceptable and inconsistent with the department's standards. Residents can report tips related to public corruption to the FBI's Los Angeles field office at 310-477-6565.
