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US Department of Justice: A Crypto "Godfather" Colluded with Police Officers to Try to Steal 100 million Dollars of Cryptocurrency

According to the official announcement of the Department of Justice, Los Angeles police recently cracked a major cryptocurrency theft case. A man who called himself the "godfather of crypto" Adam Iza conspired with a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy Eric Chase Saavedra to commit crimes against multiple victims through intimidation, extortion, and illegally obtaining search warrants. Saavedra used his police officer's identity to improperly obtain a court-authorized search warrant. The duo obtained a search warrant or GPS location associated with a laptop that they believed contained more than $100 million in cryptocurrency. After tracking down the victim, Adam Iza hired three armed men to break into the property, but the scheme failed after the victim shot at them. Iza admitted that between 2020 and 2022, he stole more than $37 million from social media giant Meta by accessing the business manager's account and its associated credit line. Adam Iza faces up to 35 years in federal prison for conspiracy to violate civil rights, wire fraud and tax evasion, and Eric Chase Saavedra faces up to 13 years for conspiracy to violate civil rights and filing false tax returns.