Crypto founder Adam Iza, owner of Zort, allegedly paid Los Angeles deputies $280,000 monthly for access to police data to extort a victim for crypto, according to an FBI affidavit.
Federal prosecutors have claimed that the proprietor of a cryptocurrency company was compensating law enforcement officers to gain access to sensitive information and individuals’ whereabouts to exploit this information to extract a victim’s cryptocurrency.
An FBI affidavit filed in an LA federal court on Sept. 23, which was made available on Sept. 26, alleges that Adam Iza, the operator of the crypto trading platform Zort, Inc., paid three Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department (LASD) deputies to submit search warrants and access police data unlawfully.
Iza, also known as “The Godfather” and Ahmed Faiq, allegedly boasted about paying the deputies $280,000 per month. He is also accused of attempting to coerce an alleged victim, identified only as E.Z., into handing over a laptop that was used to store cryptocurrency by utilizing police information.
“Campaign” to acquire cryptocurrency
The FBI reviewed a November 2021 report from the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department. E.Z. claimed that they were driving Iza, a person they had known for two years and had previously been involved in a crypto business. Iza requested that they stop and grab food, which they obliged.
Subsequently, an SUV approached the vehicle, and both individuals were present. According to the report, the driver approached E.Z. with a handgun and instructed him to “get in the car” after two men departed.
E.Z fled and contacted the authorities, assuming that Iza was attempting to abduct him in order to retrieve his crypto.
Iza informed an officer who was responding to the incident that E.Z. had agreed to provide $300,000 in exchange for some cryptocurrency. However, he was concerned that he was being abducted and sent a text message to his bodyguards requesting assistance.
The two men in the SUV were both former LASD officers. One of them, a former deputy, claimed that he owned a security company and worked for Iza, and that he was responding to his request for assistance.
The former LASD deputy stated that he kept his pistol by his side because he was informed that E.Z. was armed and instructed Iza to enter the vehicle. According to the complaint, E.Z. was in possession of an electric screwdriver.
Iza is alleged to have engaged in a “campaign of intimidation and harassment” against E.Z., according to the complaint.
E.Z. asserted that he received intimidating messages that displayed his information in a police database. One of the messages included a photo of “the top portion of a LASD business card” and other images of E.Z.’s family and vehicle.
According to the complaint, Iza also sent a private investigator, K.C., “photos of sensitive law enforcement data” and a “GPS search warrant on a phone number believed to belong to Victim E.Z.”
The FBI subsequently discovered a search warrant executed by a LASD deputy accused of receiving payments from Iza. The warrant included E.Z.’s number, even though it was a “case that had no relationship” to them.
The complaint alleged that Iza, through his cryptocurrency company LASD officer and other businesses owned by his then-girlfriend, made payments to three LASD deputies, occasionally reaching close to $200,000.
According to another individual interviewed by the FBI, Iza impersonated an FBI agent who claimed that Iza and E.Z. broke into their residence. Iza was alleged to have stolen a laptop containing cryptocurrency and held the alleged victim at gunpoint to obtain the password.
Iza was accused of tax assessment evasions and conspiracy against rights. The complaint alleged that he “concealed his receipt of tens of millions of dollars and failed to report any income taxes” between 2020 and 2022.
