One LA Sheriff’s Deputy Charged, Another Pleads Guilty in Crypto ‘Godfather’ Case

Federal prosecutors in California have sued a deputy in Los Angeles and a guilty plea from another secure about their role in a conspiracy of civil rights related to a prisoner crypto entrepreneur as ‘the godfather’.

The scheme focuses on Adam IZA, a 24-year-old cryptocurrency businessman and founder of Zort, a crypto-trading agency that, according to public prosecutors, has been used to lead illegal payments to law enforcement officials. In January, IZA argued guilty of conspiracy against law, wire fraud and tax evasion and has been in federal detention since September 2024.

David Anthony Rodriguez, a deputy of LaSd from La Verne, argued guilty of conspiracy against rights to abuse his police powers on behalf of a private security client who is not affiliated with Adam IZA, the office of the American lawyer for the central district of California said Monday.

Christopher Michael Cadman, another law enforcement officer, agreed to argue with guilty to separate the charges after he had admitted that he worked directly for IZA and helped intimidate a victim through an armed confrontation and a staged traffic stop.

The two “used their positions in law enforcement and acted as private security for their off-duty clients,” Federal prosecutors said.

Eric Chase Saavedra, a deputy Lasd and former Federal Task Force Officer, was also involved in the scheme that was linked to Rodriguez. He argued guilty in February with conspiracy against rights and submitting a false tax return.

Saavedra, who operated a private security company, was not mentioned in Monday’s application and is planned to be convicted in the coming months.

The defendants reportedly increased armed confrontations to squeeze the rivals of IZA. In August 2021, Cadman and a non -created Lasd representative held a victim at shot in Iza’s Bel Air Mansion, forcing him to transfer $ 25,000 to the bank account of IZA.

A month later, Cadman helped orchestrate a pretext traffic stop in most of the majority to arrest the same victim, despite no legitimate goal for law enforcement.

Rodriguez admitted that in July 2022 he had obtained a fraudulent house search order by lying against a judge about a robbery test. It was later revealed that after following GPS data, he was to find a victim for a private security client.

After obtaining the location data, Rodriguez shared it with fellow samplers, including Saavedra, who used the information to “bother, threaten and intimidate the victim,” said public prosecutors.

According to the Doj, Cadman received at least $ 40,500 in cash payments from IZA that he did not report on his tax return 2021, with around $ 11,000 in federal taxes.

A deep conspiracy

The payments were part of a broader pattern of fraud and corruption in which IZA distributed hundreds of thousands of dollars for contacts for law enforcement, imitate FBI agents.

Prior court requests Unveiled one payment of $ 154,933 sent from the business account from Zort to a LAPD officer.

The scale of Iza’s criminal company became clearer when his ex-girlfriend, Iris Ramaya Au, agreed to plead guilty Earlier in March not to report $ 2.6 million to revenues from his activities.

In the course of their relationship, the two spent about $ 10 million in luxury articles, while IZA received $ 16 million in crypto through fraudulent means, the prosecutors said at the time.

Rodriguez is confronted with a maximum of 10 years in the federal prison at his conviction of 10 November. Saavedra, free on a bond of $ 50,000, awaits in the coming months.

Decrypt Visited to the office of the American lawyers and the criminal investigation by IRS for comments on or extra arrests are expected.