A cryptocurrency businessman who dubbed himself “The Godfather” and a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputy have agreed to plead guilty to federal criminal charges for alleged involvement in a conspiracy that used intimidation, extortion and illegal search warrants against multiple victims, officials said Friday.
Adam Iza, 24, who has homes in Beverly Hills and Newport Coast, was named in L.A. federal court this week in a three-count superseding information that charges him with conspiracy against rights, wire fraud and tax evasion.
Eric Chase Saavedra, 41, of Chino, an LASD deputy and former federal task force officer, was separately charged Friday with conspiracy against rights and subscribing to a false tax return.
Both defendants have agreed to plead guilty to the charges and are expected to make their initial appearances in downtown Los Angeles in the coming days, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Iza, the founder of the Zort cryptocurrency trading platform, admitted in his plea agreement to having hired off-duty LASD deputies to act as his personal enforcers against perceived enemies. As part of the conspiracy, Iza would have the deputies assist in carrying out abuses of legal process, court papers show.
One of the deputies Iza employed was Saavedra, who also served as a federal officer assigned to the U.S. Marshals Service’s fugitive task force, court papers show.
Saavedra founded a private security company, Saavedra & Associates, which provided private security for its clients and often employed active LASD deputies and other law enforcement officers. Iza hired Saavedra’s company to provide round-the-clock security at a typical cost of $100,000 per month, prosecutors said.
Starting in 2021, Saavedra illegally used his LASD credentials to access sensitive law enforcement databases to obtain personal identifiable information for Iza, including for people with whom Iza had personal or business disputes, their associates and their family members, prosecutors allege.
According to his plea agreement, Saavedra admitted that he used his powers as a sworn law enforcement officer to improperly obtain court-authorized search warrants related to people with whom Iza had disputes, including a warrant to search an individual’s home and a warrant to obtain location information associated with another person.
Iza, Saavedra and others used confidential information that deputies obtained to find, intimidate, harass, threaten and extort individuals with whom Iza had disputes and their associates, according to court documents. They also used Telegram and other encrypted communications apps to avoid law enforcement detection, the DOJ alleged.
Federal prosecutors say that in one alleged incident, after securing an illegal warrant, Saavedra tracked down a victim and provided the person’s address to Iza. In March 2022, prosecutors contend, Iza caused three armed individuals to break into the victim’s home, but they fled after the victim fired a gunshot in their direction. Afterward, Iza sent the victim a video of the attempted home invasion robbery, according to the DOJ.
The documents filed this week describe other violent acts, including an August 2021 event during which two LASD deputies held a victim at gunpoint inside Iza’s residence. Aftterward, Iza caused $25,000 to be transferred from the victim’s bank account to his own, and an October 2021 event in which Iza himself held a victim at gunpoint, causing that victim to transfer $127,000 to Iza, according to federal prosecutors.
Iza also admitted in his plea agreement to stealing more than $37 million by fraudulently gaining access to business manager accounts and associated lines of credit of Meta Platforms Inc., which owns and operates Facebook, Instagram, Threads and WhatsApp.
Both Iza and Saavedra admitted to federal tax crimes. Iza allegedly avoided paying about $6.7 million in federal income tax due for the year 2021, while Saavedra received around $373,150 in unreported income and subscribed to a false tax return for 2021, according to the DOJ.
“Mr. Iza’s and Mr. Saavedra’s relationship was little more than a thuggish partnership between a thief and a crooked cop,” Special Agent in Charge Tyler Hatcher, IRS Criminal Investigation, Los Angeles Field Office, said in a statement.
“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.”
After pleading guilty, Iza will face up to 35 years in federal prison. Saavedra will face up to 13 years in federal prison, prosecutors noted.