Adam Iza was sentenced on October 5 to 78 months in prison and ordered to pay $23,402,766 in restitution for a scheme involving Meta advertising fraud and the corruption of law enforcement officials. The sentence runs concurrently with a 15-year federal sentence he is already serving for an attempted bitcoin robbery.
From August 2021 to April 2022, Iza hired off-duty Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies for personal security while simultaneously conspiring with them to obtain law enforcement records, personal information, and court-authorized search warrants. He used these tools to locate and harass individuals with whom he had disputes, and enlisted deputies to intimidate and threaten them.
Deputy Convictions
Five former deputies employed by Iza have been convicted of federal crimes. Michael David Coberg was convicted and sentenced to 63 months for helping Iza extort a rival and arranging a fraudulent drug arrest of an adversary. Eric Chase Saavedra improperly obtained search warrants while running the security company that supplied Iza. Iza's girlfriend, Iris Rabaya Au, was separately sentenced to 18 months for concealing $2.6 million from the IRS.
The Meta Fraud
From December 2020 to September 2024, Iza fraudulently accessed Meta business advertising accounts and credit lines, then sold that access to advertising companies. His operations received approximately $37 million from these sales between 2020 and 2022. Meta customers were billed for advertisements they had not ordered; the company refunded customers and absorbed the losses.
Iza admitted receiving at least $36.4 million in gross income from the scheme between 2020 and 2023. He also concealed ownership of cryptocurrency trading company Zort and transferred corporate income to cryptocurrency custodians while evading taxes, resulting in a $13.3 million loss to the IRS.
Guilty Plea and Sentencing
Iza pleaded guilty in January 2025 to conspiracy against rights, wire fraud, and tax evasion. The Department of Justice characterized the case as a stark example of how advertising fraud proceeds were converted into tools for corrupting public law enforcement powers for private disputes.
