{"id":79169,"date":"2026-10-07T04:47:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-07T04:47:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/so-called-crypto-godfather-gets-78-months-as-37m-meta-fraud-unravels\/"},"modified":"2026-10-07T04:47:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T04:47:08","slug":"so-called-crypto-godfather-gets-78-months-as-37m-meta-fraud-unravels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/so-called-crypto-godfather-gets-78-months-as-37m-meta-fraud-unravels\/","title":{"rendered":"So-Called Crypto \u2018Godfather\u2019 Gets 78 Months as $37M Meta Fraud Unravels"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>(Originally posted on : Bitcoin News )<\/b><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"@container mb-[25px] rounded-sm overflow-clip py-0.5 pr-0.5 pl-2.5 bg-success-100\">\n<div class=\"flex flex-col gap-m overflow-clip rounded-[6px] !bg-success-10 p-3 @[420px]:p-m\">\n<h2 class=\"m-0 flex items-center gap-s text-[19px] !text-[#1c1c1c] md:text-[20px]\"><svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"16\" height=\"10\" viewbox=\"0 0 16 10\" fill=\"none\" class=\"shrink-0 text-success-100\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><path d=\"M1 1.5h14\" stroke=\"currentColor\" stroke-width=\"2.5\" stroke-linecap=\"round\"\/><path d=\"M1 8.5h10\" stroke=\"currentColor\" stroke-width=\"2.5\" stroke-linecap=\"round\"\/><\/svg><span>Key Takeaways<\/span><\/h2>\n<ul class=\"m-0 flex list-none flex-col gap-m pl-0\">\n<li class=\"m-0 flex items-start gap-s !text-[#434248]\"><span class=\"mt-2 size-2 shrink-0 rounded-full bg-success-100\" aria-hidden=\"true\"\/><span class=\"text-body\">Adam Iza received 78 months in prison and a $23.4 million restitution order.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"m-0 flex items-start gap-s !text-[#434248]\"><span class=\"mt-2 size-2 shrink-0 rounded-full bg-success-100\" aria-hidden=\"true\"\/><span class=\"text-body\">Five former Los Angeles County sheriff\u2019s deputies employed by Iza have been convicted.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"m-0 flex items-start gap-s !text-[#434248]\"><span class=\"mt-2 size-2 shrink-0 rounded-full bg-success-100\" aria-hidden=\"true\"\/><span class=\"text-body\">Facebook\u2019s parent Meta Platforms Inc. refunded customers billed for ads they had not ordered in Iza\u2019s fraud scheme.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Adam Iza\u2019s money bought more than bodyguards. The self-styled \u201cGodfather\u201d hired off-duty Los Angeles County sheriff\u2019s deputies who obtained confidential information and search warrants targeting people he was fighting with. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/usao-cdca\/pr\/self-proclaimed-godfather-sentenced-over-6-years-prison-fraud-tax-evasion-and-using\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">According to a statement<\/a> made by the Department of Justice (DOJ), from the District of California office, the money came in part from a Meta advertising fraud worth roughly $37 million.<\/p>\n<p>On Oct. 5, a Los Angeles judge handed Iza 78 months in prison and ordered him to pay $23,402,766 in restitution. There\u2019s a catch to the prison term. It runs alongside <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/usao-ct\/pr\/california-man-involved-danbury-kidnapping-and-bitcoin-robbery-scheme-sentenced-15-years\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the 15-year federal sentence<\/a> he received in Connecticut last month for an attempted bitcoin robbery.<\/p>\n<h2>Deputies Became Private Muscle<\/h2>\n<p>From August 2021 to April 2022, Iza hired <a href=\"https:\/\/news.bitcoin.com\/lapd-investigates-579000-bitcoin-asic-miner-theft-suspect-released\/\">Los Angeles-based deputies<\/a> for personal security. He conspired with them to obtain law enforcement records, personal information, and court-authorized warrants to find and harass people with whom he had disputes. He also enlisted deputies to intimidate and threaten them.<\/p>\n<p>Five former deputies Iza employed have been convicted of federal crimes. One, Michael David Coberg, is serving 63 months for helping Iza extort a rival and arranging a sham drug arrest of another adversary. Another, Eric Chase Saavedra, improperly obtained search warrants while running the company that supplied Iza\u2019s security.<\/p>\n<p>Last month, Iza\u2019s girlfriend, Iris Rabaya Au, <a href=\"https:\/\/news.bitcoin.com\/regulation-and-legal\/her-crypto-godfather-ex-moved-millions-she-hid-2-6m-irs\/\">was sentenced to 18 months<\/a> for hiding $2.6 million from the IRS. In Iza\u2019s latest case, the prosecutors put the arrangement plainly in a sentencing memo, people with money \u201ccannot purchase access to confidential databases, investigative tools, warrants, arrests, badges, or firearms for use in private disputes.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Meta Footed the Bill<\/h2>\n<p>From December 2020 to September 2024, Iza fraudulently gained access to Meta business advertising accounts and their credit lines, then sold that access to advertising companies. His companies received approximately $37 million tied to those sales from 2020 through 2022. Meta customers were billed for ads they had not ordered; <a href=\"https:\/\/news.bitcoin.com\/featured\/meta-launches-muse-glimmer-for-local-ai-agents-on-personal-devices\/\">Facebook\u2019s parent company<\/a> refunded them and took the loss.<\/p>\n<p>Iza admitted receiving at least $36.4 million in gross income from the scheme between 2020 and 2023. He also admitted to conduct that caused a $13.3 million loss to the IRS. Prosecutors said he concealed his ownership of cryptocurrency trading company Zort and transferred corporate income to cryptocurrency custodians while evading taxes.<\/p>\n<h2>One Sentence Runs Alongside Another<\/h2>\n<p>Iza pleaded guilty in January 2025 to conspiracy against rights, wire fraud and tax evasion. His new 78-month sentence runs concurrently with the 15-year Connecticut term, so the two terms are being served at the same time.<\/p>\n<p>The restitution order remains. So do the convictions of the former deputies. The case\u2019s sharpest contradiction is that an advertising account fraud helped turn public law enforcement powers into tools for a private dispute. Still, this is hardly the first time law enforcement officers <a href=\"https:\/\/news.bitcoin.com\/thailand-arrests-police-officers-accused-of-staging-fake-interrogation-to-extort-165000-usdt\/\">have been caught<\/a> abusing their authority this way.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/news.bitcoin.com\/regulation-and-legal\/so-called-crypto-godfather-gets-78-months-as-37m-meta-fraud-unravels\/\">Source link <\/a><br \/>\n<br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(Originally posted on : Bitcoin News ) Key Takeaways Adam Iza received 78 months in prison and a $23.4 million restitution order. Five former Los Angeles County sheriff\u2019s deputies employed by Iza have been convicted. Facebook\u2019s parent Meta Platforms Inc. refunded customers billed for ads they had not ordered in Iza\u2019s fraud scheme. Adam Iza\u2019s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":79170,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79169"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79169"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79169\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}