$16M in Crypto, $1M to Deputies, $2.6M Unreported: What the Crypto ‘Godfather’s’ Ex Admitted in Her Plea

Iris Ramaya Au admitted in her plea that accounts she opened were used to move about $1 million to Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies, acquire about $16 million in cryptocurrency for Adam Iza, and transfer more than $2.6 million into her own accounts without reporting the income. On Sept. 21, 2026, U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson sentenced her to 18 months in prison.

Au, 37, of Irvine, pleaded guilty in March 2025 to one count of subscribing to a false tax return. The sentence included $1,484,343 in restitution and forfeiture of luxury and high-performance vehicles, designer handbags and three “Godfather” sculptures. Her conviction was for the false tax return. Her plea describes the broader financial activity, including how she established shell companies and bank accounts at Iza’s direction and used the entity accounts for payments, purchases and transfers.

Shell Companies Built the Financial Layer

Au’s plea says she created shell corporations and opened bank accounts in the names of those entities. The accounts were used for payments and purchases, including luxury real estate, cars, jewelry and clothing. Nearly $10 million went toward recreation for Iza and Au, while about $16 million was used to acquire cryptocurrency for Iza.

The plea also describes roughly $1 million in payments, mostly in cash, to active Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputies who provided private security for Iza. According to prosecutors, Iza caused deputies to obtain court-authorized search warrants and confidential law-enforcement information targeting people with whom he had financial or personal disputes.

Former deputy Christopher Michael Cadman was sentenced to 21 months on Sept. 14, 2026, after pleading guilty to conspiracy against rights and subscribing to a false tax return. Former deputy Scott Allen Simpkins received 18 months in July 2026 for obstructing a federal investigation into Iza’s extortion of a party planner. Former deputy Eric Chase Saavedra pleaded guilty to conspiracy against rights and subscribing to a false tax return and had not been sentenced as of Sept. 22.

The Money Started With Meta Ad Accounts

Iza’s broader scheme involved advertising accounts and credit lines provided by Facebook Inc. and Meta Platforms Inc. His plea says he fraudulently obtained access to Meta business-manager accounts and associated credit lines and sold access, obtaining more than $37 million through the scheme.

Au’s plea says she created the companies and accounts that received and spent the funds. The money described in the plea was used across the operation, including for cryptocurrency purchases, private security and personal expenses. Between 2020 and 2023, more than $2.6 million was transferred from entity accounts into Au’s personal accounts. She admitted that she willfully failed to report that income on her federal tax returns. That conduct formed the basis of the tax count to which she pleaded guilty.

The “Godfather” Case Moves On

Iza pleaded guilty in January 2025 in Los Angeles to conspiracy against rights, wire fraud and tax evasion. He is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Anderson on Oct. 5, 2026.

His California case follows a separate federal sentence in Connecticut, where he received 15 years for his role in an attempted robbery of Bitcoin and a kidnapping. The tax return was the charge. The plea shows the money trail around it.