Adam Iza called himself 'The Godfather'. For a few years, he lived like one:a mansion in Bel Air, and addresses in Beverly Hills and Newport Beach, with tens of millions of dollars, moving th
Adam Iza called himself 'The Godfather'. For a few years, he lived like one:a mansion in Bel Air, and addresses in Beverly Hills and Newport Beach, with tens of millions of dollars, moving through a company called Zort.
This week, the name caught up with him. U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson sentenced Iza, now 26, to 78 months in federal prison. He also ordered him to pay $23,402,766 in restitution, which is money meant to repay victims.
It is the second time in about a month that a federal court has sent Iza away.
The new sentence runs alongside a 15-year term handed down in Connecticut, so he will serve both at once.
Then there was his security. And for eight months, Iza's security detail included off-duty deputies from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
Related: Where does your Bitcoin actually go when you borrow against it?
The money came from Meta, though not in any way the company intended. From December 2020 to September 2024, Iza fraudulently got into Meta Business Manager accounts.
Businesses use these dashboards to buy and run ads on Facebook and Instagram. He also got into the lines of credit tied to those accounts, which let advertisers spend now and pay later.
He then sold that access to advertising companies at what prosecutors call substantial profits. Meta's clients were billed for ads they never ran, and Meta later refunded them.
Prosecutors say the business brought in about $37 million between 2020 and 2024. In his plea agreement, Iza admitted to $36,360,844 in gross income. The IRS never got its share. Zort filed no corporate tax returns from 2020 through 2023, leaving a tax loss of $13,286,152.
Image for representation purpose only.Iza covered his tracks carefully. He hid his ownership of Zort and concealed his messages with ad clients. He had associates buy personal items with the proceeds. He also moved company income to cryptocurrency custodians, which are firms that hold digital assets for their clients.
Between August 2021 and April 2022, Iza hired off-duty sheriff's deputies as personal security. According to federal prosecutors, the job soon went far beyond guarding a door.
Working with corrupt deputies, Iza got confidential law enforcement information and personal data on his financial and personal adversaries. Court-approved search warrants are normally tools for solving crimes. Here they were used to track, harass and intimidate people.
Everyone was well paid. According to IRS Criminal Investigation, the tax agency's law enforcement arm, about $1 million in cash payments from the scheme's proceeds went to sheriff's deputies.
In all, five former deputies now stand convicted of federal crimes. Prosecutors spelled out what was at stake: "Individuals with substantial financial resources must understand that they cannot purchase access to confidential databases, investigative tools, warrants, arrests, badges, or firearms for use in private disputes."
Iza pleaded guilty in January 2025 to three charges.
The first was conspiracy against rights, a federal crime of plotting to strip people of their constitutional protections. The others were wire fraud and tax evasion.
The final act played out across the country. On Aug. 25, 2024, attackers in Danbury, Connecticut, carjacked a Lamborghini Urus and kidnapped the two people inside.
The victims were the parents of someone involved in a Bitcoin theft worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Bitcoin is the largest cryptocurrency, a digital currency that moves without a bank in the middle. Six Florida men were arrested.
Connecticut prosecutors say Iza funded the plot and directed its logistics by phone and encrypted messaging. On Sept. 24, 2024, he was taken into custody in California on separate federal charges. He has been in federal custody ever since.
The fallout also reached the people closest to him. Iris Rabaya Au, 37, of Irvine, is Iza's former girlfriend, and she handled much of the money. According to IRS Criminal Investigation, she set up shell companies and opened bank accounts at his direction. She then spent the proceeds on luxury real estate, high-end cars, jewelry and roughly $16 million in cryptocurrency.
Au was sentenced on Sept. 21 to 18 months for a false tax return that left out more than $2.6 million she moved into her own accounts. On top of $1,484,343 in restitution, she must give up the of fast cars, designer handbags and three "Godfather" sculptures.
The FBI and IRS Criminal Investigation ran the case. They had help from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, the same agency whose deputies once guarded Iza.
Related: Some Californians under 23 will get $900 a month, no questions asked
