LOS ANGELES
A cryptocurrency entrepreneur known as “The Godfather” and a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) deputy have agreed to plead guilty to federal criminal charges, including their involvement in a conspiracy targeting multiple victims in Los Angeles, officials stated.
According to the Justice Department, the charges include violating civil rights through intimidation, extortion, illegal search warrants, and other abuses of police authority.
Adam Iza, 24, who lives in Beverly Hills and Newport Coast, was charged this week in a three-count case with conspiracy against rights, wire fraud, and tax evasion. He has been in federal custody since September 2024.
Eric Chase Saavedra, 41, of Chino, an LASD deputy and former federal task force officer, was charged with conspiracy against rights and filing a false tax return.
“When law enforcement officers violate their oath, they betray not only the public but also the vast majority of officers who do the job the right way,” said United States Attorney Martin Estrada.
“Mr. Iza’s and Mr. Saavedra’s relationship was little more than a thuggish partnership between a thief and a crooked cop,” said Special Agent in Charge Tyler Hatcher, IRS Criminal Investigation, Los Angeles Field Office. “The public should be able to trust members of law enforcement, but Mr. Saavedra violated his oath for a payday. Mr. Iza stole from anyone he could and found a big payday by ripping off Meta so that he could afford to pay for Mr. Saavedra’s corrupt protection and assistance. Unfortunately for both of them, money leaves trails and IRS Criminal Investigations.”
According to their plea agreements, Iza hired off-duty LASD deputies, including Saavedra, to act as enforcers against his enemies.
The conspiracy involved extortion, intimidation, false arrests, and abuse of legal processes.
Saavedra, an LASD deputy with the Operation Safe Streets Bureau, also served on the U.S. Marshals Pacific Southwest Regional Fugitive Task Force.
Saavedra founded a private security company, Saavedra & Associates LLC, which employed active LASD deputies and other law enforcement officers.
From August 2021 to March 2022, Iza, living in a Bel Air mansion, hired the company for 24/7 security at a cost of $100,000 per month. He re-hired the company from July 2024 until his arrest in September 2024
Starting in fall 2021, Saavedra illegally used his LASD credentials to access sensitive law enforcement databases, obtaining personal information about individuals Iza had disputes with, as well as their associates and family members.
Saavedra, aware this was unauthorized, shared the information to impress Iza and secure lucrative business from him, according to court documents
Saavedra admitted to abusing his authority as a law enforcement officer to obtain improper search warrants for individuals Iza had disputes with. This included a warrant to search someone’s home, which Saavedra helped arrange, and a warrant for location data that he obtained directly.
According to court documents, Iza, Saavedra, and others used confidential information from LASD deputies to locate, intimidate, harass, threaten, and extort individuals Iza had disputes with, as well as their associates.
They relied on encrypted apps like Telegram to evade detection
In late 2021 or early 2022, Iza, believing a victim had a laptop with over $100 million in cryptocurrency, agreed with Saavedra to obtain a search warrant for the victim’s phone GPS location.
In January 2022, Saavedra falsely applied for and received a warrant from a Los Angeles Superior Court judge. In the affidavit, Saavedra lied, claiming the victim’s phone number was linked to a firearms investigation.
After obtaining the illegal warrant, Saavedra tracked the victim down and gave Iza the victim’s address. In March 2022, Iza sent three armed individuals to break into the victim’s home to steal the laptop, but they fled after the victim fired a shot. Iza later sent the victim a video of the attempted robbery.
The documents also describe other violent acts, including an August 2021 incident where two LASD deputies held a victim at gunpoint in Iza’s home, leading to a $25,000 transfer from the victim’s account to Iza’s.
In October 2021, Iza held another victim at gunpoint, forcing a $127,000 transfer.
Iza also admitted to stealing over $37 million by fraudulently accessing Meta Platforms Inc.’s business manager accounts and lines of credit from 2020 to 2022
Both Iza and Saavedra admitted to federal tax crimes in their plea agreements. Iza deliberately avoided paying about $6.77 million in federal income taxes for 2021. Saavedra received around $373,146 in unreported income and filed a false tax return for 2021.