In brief
- Two Los Angeles sheriff’s deputies have pleaded guilty to abusing their roles to stage fake raids and illegal arrests.
- Federal prosecutors say the corruption ring centered on crypto entrepreneur Adam Iza, who called himself “The Godfather.”
- One victim was held at gunpoint in Iza’s Bel Air mansion and forced to transfer $25,000.
Federal prosecutors in California have charged one Los Angeles deputy and secured a guilty plea from another over their roles in a civil rights conspiracy linked to a jailed crypto entrepreneur self-styled as “The Godfather.”
The scheme centers on Adam Iza, a 24-year-old cryptocurrency businessman and founder of Zort, a crypto trading firm that prosecutors say was used to funnel illicit payments to law enforcement officers. Iza pleaded guilty in January to conspiracy against rights, wire fraud, and tax evasion and has been in federal custody since September 2024.
David Anthony Rodriguez, an LASD deputy from La Verne, pleaded guilty to conspiracy against rights for misusing his police powers on behalf of a private security client not connected to Adam Iza, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California said Monday.
Christopher Michael Cadman, another law enforcement officer, agreed to plead guilty to separate charges after admitting 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 while acting as private security for their off-duty clients,” federal prosecutors said.
Eric Chase Saavedra, an LASD deputy and former federal task force officer, was also implicated in the scheme tied to Rodriguez. He pleaded guilty in February to conspiracy against rights and filing a false tax return.
Saavedra, who operated a private security firm, was not named in Monday’s filing and is scheduled to be sentenced in the coming months.
The defendants allegedly staged armed confrontations to extort Iza’s rivals. In August 2021, Cadman and an unidentified LASD deputy held a victim at gunpoint inside Iza’s Bel Air mansion, forcing him to transfer $25,000 to Iza’s bank account.
A month later, Cadman helped orchestrate a pretextual traffic stop in Paramount to arrest the same victim, despite no legitimate law enforcement purpose.
Rodriguez admitted to obtaining a fraudulent search warrant in July 2022 by lying to a judge about a robbery investigation. It was later revealed he was after GPS tracking data to locate a victim for a private security client.
After obtaining the location data, Rodriguez shared it with co-conspirators, including Saavedra, who used the information to “harass, threaten, and intimidate” the victim, prosecutors said.
Cadman received at least $40,500 in cash payments from Iza that he failed to report on his 2021 tax return, owing approximately $11,000 in federal taxes, according to the DOJ.
A deep conspiracy
The payments were part of a broader pattern of fraud and corruption that saw Iza distribute hundreds of thousands of dollars to law enforcement contacts, going so far as to impersonate FBI agents.
Prior court filings revealed one payment of $154,933 sent from Zort’s business account to an LAPD officer.
The scale of Iza’s criminal enterprise became clearer when his ex-girlfriend, Iris Ramaya Au, agreed to plead guilty earlier in March to failing to report $2.6 million in proceeds from his operations.
Over the course of their relationship, the two spent approximately $10 million on luxury items, while Iza acquired $16 million in crypto through fraudulent means, prosecutors said at the time.
Rodriguez faces up to 10 years in federal prison at his November 10 sentencing. Saavedra, free on $50,000 bond, awaits sentencing in the coming months.
Decrypt reached out to the U.S. Attorney’s Office and IRS Criminal Investigation for comment on whether additional arrests are expected.
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