Event promoter Ryan Chapell wouldn’t budge — then the guns came out.
Chapell refused to refund half the $50,000 that self-proclaimed crypto “godfather” Adam Iza had paid for his 21st birthday gala.
Things went downhill from there.
Iza allegedly turned loose his hired thugs, gun-toting, badge-wearing Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies who took Chapell’s cellphone at gunpoint and stole thousands from his online bank account, and then framed Chapell on drug charges and falsely obtained a search warrant to trash his West Los Angeles home ostensibly in search of fentanyl and cocaine. They found none.
Federal authorities cracked Iza’s illegal operation, recently securing guilty pleas or agreements to plead guilty from three of the former deputies, Iza and his girlfriend. Chapell now is suing the county and Iza in federal court for more than $50 million in damages.
‘Money can buy the police’
“It just shows, money can buy the police,” said Chapell’s attorney, Jerry Steering. The suit, filed Aug. 15, details Iza’s illegal rise as a “cryptocurrency” mogul and, for the first time, lays out Iza’s attacks from Chapell’s point of view.
In a prepared statement, the Sheriff’s Department responded: “This deplorable behavior is a direct violation of department standards, betrays public trust, and tarnishes the reputation of all deputies and the entire department. …Those who misuse their badge to exploit their power for personal gain through illegal activities have no place in law enforcement and must be held accountable.”
According to the lawsuit, Iza, now 24, aspired to be a “quasi-Mafioso figure in the mold of Tony Montana from the movie ‘Scarface.’ ” Iza and his girlfriend, Iris Au, schemed to defraud Meta Platforms Inc. and its Facebook advertising clients by selling access to hacked business manager accounts and associated lines of credit, the lawsuit said.
Iza and Au then opened a group of shell companies to launder the money, under the names Zort Inc., Dream Agency Inc., Rise Agency Inc. and Atlas Marketing Agency. From 2020 through 2023, Iza and Au stole about $37 million from Meta, according to the lawsuit.
Lavish lifestyle
Iza billed himself as a cryptocurrency millionaire, spending his allegedly illegal gains on a lavish lifestyle, buying luxury vehicles, moving into homes in Bel-Air, Beverly Hills and Newport Beach. He even hired a surgeon to break his legs to make him taller, the suit said. Iza also engaged a Chino-based security firm operated by then Los Angeles County sheriff’s Deputy Eric Chase Saavedra, the suit said.
At the time, Saavedra was assigned to the sheriff’s gang bureau and a federal fugitive task force with the U.S. Marshal’s Office.
Iza allegedly paid Saavedra $100,000 a month to strongarm enemies and rivals. Saavedra gave at least eight other deputies $750 a shift to be the “godfather’s” enforcers, according to the suit. They communicated with each other by using the Telegram encrypted messaging application.
Besides muscle, the deputies provided Iza with information from confidential police databases that allowed him to locate and harass his alleged victims, the suit said.
Event planner targeted
Iza trained his law enforcement resources on Chapell, 36, a promoter hired to produce Iza’s birthday party at his mansion in Bel-Air on Aug. 14, 2021. Two days after the bash, Chapell was summoned by text message to the home by an unhappy Iza.
When Chapell arrived, Iza was sitting behind his office desk, loading bullets into a firearm magazine, a black handgun nearby, an AR-15 rifle propped against the desk. Surrounding Chapell were at least eight armed, active deputies, their badges on their belts, according to the suit.
Iza said he was dissatisfied with the party and demanded half the money back. When Chapell refused, Iza demanded his cellphone. Chapell wouldn’t give it to him.
When Chapell reached for his pocket, the guns came out, all bearing down on him, the suit said. Chapell gave his cell and his password to Iza, who used the phone to transfer $25,000 from Chapell’s bank account to one of the shell companies, the suit said.
But Iza allegedly didn’t stop there. He photographed Chapell’s driver’s license, passport and credit cards. Iza let Chapell go, but kept the phone, using it to steal tens of thousands of dollars from Chapell’s financial accounts, the suit said.
According to the lawsuit, Saavedra and the deputies then paid a woman who was romantically involved with Chapell to frame him for drug possession. The deputies gave her money to buy illegal narcotics to plant in her vehicle, near the passenger seat. She then picked up Chapell from the airport, after persuading him to return early from a trip to Florida.
The deputies pulled over the vehicle in Paramount during a “traffic stop” and arrested Chapell. As he was being led away in handcuffs, a black SUV pulled up with Iza in the back seat, smoking a cigar with the window down, the suit said. He talked with the deputies, took a few photos and then was driven away.
Chapell spent three days in the lockup at the Lakewood sheriff’s station, while the deputies allegedly falsified police reports on the arrest, the suit said. Prosecutors, however, ultimately dropped the charges for lack of evidence.
Iza allegedly texted Chapell that he was a “worthless loser” and that he “f–ked with the wrong people,” the suit said.
The harassment continued.
Iza’s hired deputies, alleging that Chapell was selling large amounts of fentanyl and cocaine, fraudulently obtained a search warrant for Chapell’s house near University High School on Los Angeles’ Westside. They found nothing, but trashed the place, Steering said.
“I have never seen this level of police corruption — actually having the police on the payroll of a vicious and ongoing criminal enterprise like that created and run by Adam Iza,” said Steering, who has been suing police agencies for 41 years. “
Chapell feared that reporting the assaults to the Sheriff’s Department would bring reprisals, so he fled to New York and contacted the FBI, which said the case was outside its jurisdiction, according to the suit. So he moved back to Los Angeles and reached out in 2022 to the Los Angeles Police Department, which referred the case to the FBI. This time agents launched an investigation.
Others victimized
Besides Chapell, Iza allegedly had victimized others, the lawsuit said.
In November 2021, Iza attempted to kidnap actor and entrepreneur Enzo Zelocchi, whom he believed had large amounts of cryptocurrency in various electronic devices, according to the lawsuit. Zelocchi was driving his car, with Iza in the back seat, in Riverside County, the suit said. Iza had Zelocchi pull over at a gas station/convenience store to buy some food.
When Zelocchi stopped, a black SUV with the deputies pulled up. One of them accosted Zelocchi at gunpoint and told him to get in the car. Zelocchi got away and called 911.
According to the lawsuit, a Riverside County sheriff’s deputy responded and talked to the Los Angeles County deputies, who made it appear that they were the victims. The Riverside County deputy left without making any arrests.
‘Shocking to the conscience’
Iza later had his hired deputies obtain a computerized personal data report on Zelocchi, the suit said. They sent text messages to Zelocchi with photos of his report as well as a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department business card. Zelocchi also received text photos of his family members and his car.
Under the assumption that one of Zelocchi’s associates had his laptop, Iza’s deputies confronted the associate at a home in Orange County. But the associate refused to open the door and spoke to them through a window. The deputies identified themselves as law enforcement and said a stolen computer was pinging inside the home.
Local police officers were called, but they left without taking any action, the lawsuit said.
Iza, frustrated when he could not locate Zelocchi, had the deputies allegedly obtain a search warrant for GPS information from Zelocchi’s cellphone, the suit said. Deputies falsely told the judge that Zelocchi’s cell number was associated with a suspect in a firearms investigation.
Pings from the cellphone GPS led the deputies to a Los Angeles apartment complex, where they spotted Zelocchi standing outside. They gave the location to a private investigator, who put Zelocchi under surveillance for months, according to the lawsuit.
The suit said the deputies also went back to Zelocchi’s associate in Orange County and stole a laptop from him, which was delivered to Iza. They also tried a home invasion robbery where Zelocchi was staying, but fled when he fired at them.
Los Angeles Police Department officers responded, but made no arrests.
“It’s beyond weird, mind-boggling … shocking to the conscience,” Steering said of the former deputies.
Saavedra and seven other deputies were relieved of duty or were “out of service,” the Sheriff’s Department said. Iza pleaded guilty to conspiracy, wire fraud and tax evasion. His sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 15.
Saavedra, 42, pleaded guilty to conspiracy and one count of subscribing to a false tax return. He is free on $50,000 bond. Former Deputy David Rodriguez, 43, pleaded guilty to conspiracy and ex-Deputy Christopher Michael Cadman, 33, agreed to plead guilty to two counts of conspiracy.
At least three other deputies have been relieved of duty.
The lawsuit is seeking a jury trial.
