LOS ANGELES — A former Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy was sentenced Monday to 21 months in federal prison for using his law enforcement authority to threaten and intimidate adversaries of an imprisoned cryptocurrency businessman and for cheating on his taxes, officials announced Tuesday.
Christopher Michael Cadman, 34, of Fullerton, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson, who also ordered him to pay $25,000 in restitution.
Cadman pleaded guilty in August 2025 to conspiracy against rights and subscribing to a false tax return.
Cadman formerly worked for Adam Iza, 26, a self-styled cryptocurrency businessman who lived in Beverly Hills and Newport Beach before being taken into federal custody in September 2024.
Iza pleaded guilty in January 2025 to conspiracy against rights, wire fraud and tax evasion. He is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 5 by Anderson.
In a separate Connecticut case, Iza is serving a 15-year federal prison sentence for participating in an attempted Bitcoin robbery and kidnapping in August 2024.
Quick Facts
🔴 Sentence: 21 months in federal prison
🔴 Restitution: $25,000
🔴 Defendant: Former LASD Deputy Christopher Michael Cadman
🔴 Charges: Conspiracy against rights and filing a false tax return
🔴 Unreported income: At least $40,500
🔴 Unpaid federal taxes: Approximately $11,000
🔴 Other convictions: Five former LASD deputies have been convicted in connection with Adam Iza
🔴 Investigators: FBI and IRS Criminal Investigation
According to court documents, Cadman and then-LASD Deputy Scott Simpkins intimidated and threatened one of Iza’s adversaries in August 2021.
Simpkins held the victim at gunpoint during a meeting in Iza’s office inside his Bel Air mansion, according to Cadman’s plea agreement. Immediately afterward, the victim transferred approximately $25,000 from his bank account to an account controlled by Iza.
The following month, Cadman and other law enforcement officers orchestrated a traffic stop in Paramount to arrest the same victim. Cadman helped organize the traffic stop and arrest for Iza and received cash payments while working for him, prosecutors said.
Cadman also received at least $40,500 in income that he knowingly failed to report on his 2021 federal income tax return, which he signed and filed with the IRS in February 2022. He owed approximately $11,000 in federal taxes for that year.
“Our legal system entrusts law enforcement officers with extraordinary authority,” prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum. “Those powers carry a corresponding duty to uphold constitutional rights, exercise sound judgment, and serve the public with integrity.”
Prosecutors said an officer’s abuse of authority harms more than the immediate victim because it undermines confidence in the rule of law, weakens trust in government institutions and damages the reputations of officers who serve honorably.
Cadman is one of five former LASD deputies convicted in connection with Iza’s criminal activities:
- Michael David Coberg, 45, of Eastvale, is serving 63 months in federal prison for helping Iza extort a rival and arranging the sham arrest of another adversary on an illegal drug possession allegation in Paramount in 2021. Anderson sentenced Coberg on March 16.
- Scott Allen Simpkins, 34, of Brea, was sentenced July 13 to 18 months in federal prison for obstructing an investigation into Iza’s extortion of $25,000 from a party planner at Iza’s Bel Air mansion.
- David Anthony Rodriguez, 45, of La Verne, was sentenced July 20 to one year in federal prison. Rodriguez, who worked for Iza as a private security guard, pleaded guilty to submitting a false search warrant application to a state court judge for a different client.
- Eric Chase Saavedra, 42, of Chino, a former LASD deputy and federal task force officer, pleaded guilty in February 2025 to conspiracy against rights and making and subscribing to a false tax return.
Saavedra founded Saavedra & Associates LLC, a security company that provided protection for Iza and hired LASD deputies. Prosecutors said Saavedra misused his authority as a law enforcement officer to obtain court-approved search warrants connected to efforts to intimidate, threaten and harass Iza’s adversaries.
Saavedra is expected to be sentenced in the coming weeks.
In a related case, Iza’s former girlfriend, Iris Ramaya Au, 37, of Irvine, pleaded guilty in March 2025 to subscribing to a false tax return. Prosecutors said she failed to report more than $2.6 million in illegally obtained money she received through Iza’s criminal activities.
Au faces a statutory maximum sentence of three years in federal prison. Her sentencing is expected in the coming weeks.
The FBI and IRS Criminal Investigation investigated the case with assistance from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Maxwell K. Coll of the National Security Division prosecuted the case.