$50 million suit against crypto ‘godfather’ reads like a movie plot, featuring corrupt LA deputies
The Sheriff’s Department called the behavior of its deputies ‘deplorable,’ saying it ‘betrays public trust, and tarnishes the reputation of all deputies’
Event promoter Ryan Chapell wouldn’t budge — then the guns came out.
Chapell refused to refund half the $50,000 that self-proclaimed crypto “godfather” Adam Iza had paid for his 21st birthday gala.
Things went downhill from there.
Iza allegedly turned loose his hired thugs, gun-toting, badge-wearing Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies who took Chapell’s cellphone at gunpoint and stole thousands from his online bank account, and then framed Chapell on drug charges and falsely obtained a search warrant to trash his West Los Angeles home ostensibly in search of fentanyl and cocaine. They found none.
Federal authorities cracked Iza’s illegal operation, recently securing guilty pleas or agreements to plead guilty from three of the former deputies, Iza and his girlfriend. Chapell now is suing the county and Iza in federal court for more than $50 million in damages.
‘Money can buy the police’
“It just shows, money can buy the police,” said Chapell’s attorney, Jerry Steering. The suit, filed Aug. 15, details Iza’s illegal rise as a “cryptocurrency” mogul and, for the first time, lays out Iza’s attacks from Chapell’s point of view.
In a prepared statement, the Sheriff’s Department responded: “This deplorable behavior is a direct violation of department standards, betrays public trust, and tarnishes the reputation of all deputies and the entire department. …Those who misuse their badge to exploit their power for personal gain through illegal activities have no place in law enforcement and must be held accountable.”
According to the lawsuit, Iza, now 24, aspired to be a “quasi-Mafioso figure in the mold of Tony Montana from the movie ‘Scarface.’ ” Iza and his girlfriend, Iris Au, schemed to defraud Meta Platforms Inc. and its Facebook advertising clients by selling access to hacked business manager accounts and associated lines of credit, the lawsuit said.
Iza and Au then opened a group of shell companies to launder the money, under the names Zort Inc., Dream Agency Inc., Rise Agency Inc. and Atlas Marketing Agency. From 2020 through 2023, Iza and Au stole about $37 million from Meta, according to the lawsuit.
Lavish lifestyle
Iza billed himself as a cryptocurrency millionaire, spending his allegedly illegal gains on a lavish lifestyle, buying luxury vehicles, moving into homes in Bel-Air, Beverly Hills and Newport Beach. He even hired a surgeon to break his legs to make him taller, the suit said. Iza also engaged a Chino-based security firm operated by then Los Angeles County sheriff’s Deputy Eric Chase Saavedra, the suit said.
At the time, Saavedra was assigned to the sheriff’s gang bureau and a federal fugitive task force with the U.S. Marshal’s Office.
Iza allegedly paid Saavedra $100,000 a month to strongarm enemies and rivals. Saavedra gave at least eight other deputies $750 a shift to be the “godfather’s” enforcers, according to the suit. They communicated with each other by using the Telegram encrypted messaging application.