Crypto founder paid LA cops to extort victim for crypto, FBI alleges

The owner of a crypto company was paying cops to get access to sensitive information and people’s whereabouts so he could use it to extort a victim for their crypto, federal prosecutors have alleged.

Adam Iza, who ran the crypto trading platform Zort, Inc., allegedly paid three Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department (LASD) deputies to unlawfully file search warrants and access police data, according to an FBI affadavit filed in an LA federal court on Sept. 23, made available on Sept. 26.

Iza — also known as Ahmed Faiq and “The Godfather” — allegedly bragged about paying $280,000 a month to the deputies and is accused of using police information to try to coerce an alleged victim, identified only as E.Z., into handing over a laptop used to store crypto.

“Campaign” to get crypto

According to a November 2021 Riverside County Sheriff’s Department report reviewed by the FBI, E.Z. claimed they were driving Iza — who they had known for two years and used to be involved in a crypto business with — when Iza asked to stop and get food, which they did.

Afterward, both were standing by the car when an SUV pulled up. Two men exited and the driver approached E.Z. with a handgun and told them to “get in the car,” according to the report.

E.Z fled and called the police, believing Iza was attempting to kidnap him to get at his crypto.

Iza told an officer responding to the incident that E.Z. agreed to give him $300,000 for some crypto but was concerned that he was being kidnapped, so he texted his bodyguards for help.

The men in the SUV were both former LASD, and one — a former deputy — claimed he owned a security company and worked for Iza and was responding to his ask for help.

The former LASD deputy said he held his gun by his side because he was told E.Z. was armed and told Iza to get in the car. E.Z. was carrying an electric screwdriver, according to the complaint.

The complaint alleges E.Z. was then subject to a “campaign of intimidation and harassment” from Iza.

E.Z. claimed he received intimidating messages showing his information in a police database, with one photo displaying “the top portion of a LASD business card” along with a message with pictures of E.Z.’s family and car.

A private investigator that Iza hired, identified only as K.C., claimed Iza also sent him “photos of sensitive law enforcement data” and a picture of a “GPS search warrant on a phone number believed to belong to Victim E.Z.,” according to the complaint.

The FBI said it later found a search warrant made by an LASD deputy, who was accused of receiving payments from Iza. The warrant added E.Z.’s number even though it was a “case that had no relationship” to them.

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The complaint claimed that Iza, through his cryptocurrency company Zort and other businesses owned by his then-girlfriend, made payments to three LASD deputies, with amounts occasionally reaching close to $200,000.

Another person interviewed by the FBI claimed Iza and E.Z. broke into their home, with Iza impersonating an FBI agent. Iza was accused of stealing a laptop containing crypto and holding the alleged victim at gunpoint for the password.

Iza was charged with conspiracy against rights and tax assessment evasions, with the complaint alleging he “concealed his recept of tens of millions of dollars and did not report any income taxes” between 2020 and 2022.

Iza’s lawyer and the LASD did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

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