Source: Office of United States Attorneys
LOS ANGELES – A cryptocurrency businessman who dubbed himself “The Godfather” and a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) deputy have agreed to plead guilty to federal criminal charges, including for their roles in a conspiracy that targeted multiple victims in Los Angeles, violating their civil rights via intimidation, extortion, illegal search warrants and other abuses of police power, the Justice Department announced today.
Adam Iza, 24, who has residences in Beverly Hills and Newport Coast, was named this week in a three-count superseding information that charges him with conspiracy against rights, wire fraud and tax evasion. Iza has been in federal custody since September 2024.
Eric Chase Saavedra, 41, of Chino, an LASD deputy and a former federal task force officer, was separately charged today with conspiracy against rights and subscribing to a false tax return.
Iza and Saavedra have agreed to plead guilty to these felony charges and are expected to make their initial appearances in United States District Court in downtown Los Angeles in the coming days.
“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. “The conduct admitted to in these plea agreements is deeply disturbing and cannot be tolerated. I am grateful for the cooperation of Sheriff Robert Luna and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department in working with our office to root out corruption and uphold civil rights.”
“The defendants profited handsomely by abusing the criminal justice system and trampling on victims’ civil rights,” said Akil Davis, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office. “The FBI is committed to rooting out corrupt officials and their coconspirators whose actions erode trust in law enforcement.”
The plea agreement for Iza was filed this morning. Federal prosecutors late Thursday filed charges, as well a plea agreement, in the case against Saavedra.
According to their plea agreements, Iza hired off-duty LASD deputies to act as his personal enforcers against his enemies. As part of the conspiracy to violate civil rights, Iza would have the deputies assist him in carrying out extortion, intimidation, setting people up for arrest, and abuse of legal process. One of the deputies Iza employed was Saavedra, who was assigned to LASD’s Operation Safe Streets Bureau and served as a federal task force officer assigned to the United States Marshals Service’s Pacific Southwest Regional Fugitive Task Force.
Saavedra founded a private security company, Saavedra & Associates LLC. This company provided private security for its clients and often employed active LASD deputies and other law enforcement officers. From August 2021 to March 2022, Iza – who then lived in a Bel Air mansion – hired Saavedra & Associates to provide him round-the-clock private security at a typical cost of $100,000 per month. Iza hired the company again from July 2024 until Iza’s arrest in September 2024.
Starting in the fall of 2021, Saavedra illegally and regularly used his LASD credentials to access sensitive law enforcement databases to obtain personal identifiable information for Iza, including PII for people with whom Iza had personal or business disputes, their associates and their family members. Saavedra knew he was not authorized under LASD rules to access this information for non-law enforcement matters or to share it with private clients. He did so because he wanted to impress Iza with his access to law enforcement information and to continue to receive lucrative business from Iza, according to court documents.
Saavedra admitted that he used his powers as a sworn law enforcement officer to improperly obtain court-authorized search warrants related to individuals with whom Iza had disputes, including a warrant to search an individual’s residence that Saavedra helped facilitate and a warrant to obtain location information associated with another individual that Saavedra directly obtained.
Iza, Saavedra and others used confidential information that the LASD deputies obtained in their official capacities to locate, 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.
For example, in late 2021 or early 2022, Iza – believing a victim possessed a laptop computer containing more than $100 million in cryptocurrency – discussed and agreed that Saavedra would obtain a search warrant for GPS location associated with that victim’s telephone number. In January 2022, Saavedra applied for and obtained a search warrant under false pretenses from a Los Angeles Superior Court judge. In an affidavit supporting the search warrant application, Saavedra falsely stated that the victim’s telephone number was associated with a suspect in a firearms investigation.
After securing the illegal warrant, Saavedra tracked down the victim and provided the victim’s address to Iza. In March 2022, Iza caused three armed individuals to try to force entry into the victim’s home to steal the laptop. The individuals fled after the victim fired a gunshot in their direction. Afterward, Iza sent the victim a video of the attempted home invasion robbery.
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, after which 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.
Iza also admitted to stealing more than $37 million by fraudulently gaining access to Meta Platforms Inc. business manager accounts and their associated lines of credit from 2020 to 2022.
Both Iza and Saavedra admitted in their plea agreements to federal tax crimes. Iza willfully avoided the assessment of approximately $6,772,725 in federal income tax due for the year 2021. Saavedra received approximately $373,146 in unreported income and subscribed to a false tax return for 2021.
“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 Investigation is the best in the world at finding and following those trails. When you commit fraud and take a payday from fraudsters you must pay taxes on those funds. Now they will face justice for their actions.”
After pleading guilty, Iza will face up to 35 years in federal prison. Saavedra will face up to 13 years in federal prison.
The FBI and IRS Criminal Investigation are investigating this matter. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department has provided assistance.
Assistant United States Attorneys Daniel J. O’Brien and J. Jamari Buxton of the Public Corruption and Civil Rights Section, and Maxwell K. Coll of the Cyber and Intellectual Property Crimes Section are prosecuting this case.