‘The Godfather’ faces 35-year prison sentence over role in fraud, crypto kidnap attempt

Adam Iza, a 25-year-old California cryptocurrency businessman known as “The Godfather,” pleaded guilty on Monday, June 1, to orchestrating an attempted kidnapping of a Connecticut couple. 

Apparently, the son of the couple had stolen 4,100 Bitcoin worth roughly $245 million, leading to the kidnapping. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Connecticut, federal prosecutors are asking for at least 14 years in prison when Iza is sentenced on August 12.

From nightclub beef to violent abduction

The story starts with a fight at a Miami nightclub in mid-2024 between Veer Chetal and James Schwab, an alleged co-conspirator of Adam Iza. Weeks after the incident, Chetal and two others pulled off an elaborate social engineering scheme, pretending to be Google and crypto exchange tech support and siphoning 4,100 Bitcoins from a Washington, D.C., resident, according to court documents.

Prosecutors also shared that Chetal and his accomplices blew the stolen funds on a lavish lifestyle, including luxury cars, jewelry, rented mansions, and expensive nights out at nightclubs before their eventual arrest. While Chetal pleaded guilty to his involvement last November, his two co-defendants have maintained their innocence and pleaded not guilty.

Adam Iza and James Schwab allegedly identified an opportunity to profit from the situation by plotting to kidnap Veer Chetal’s parents. According to the FBI, citing information from informants, the pair intended to use the parents as leverage to force the group to hand over part of the stolen Bitcoin.

The Danbury abduction fell apart fast

On August 25, 2024, the group recruited six men who executed a violent kidnapping. According to the court records, the attackers staged a collision by rear-ending Sushil and Radhika Chetal’s Lamborghini SUV near Danbury High School in Connecticut and using a white van to block their path. 

The victims were then removed from their vehicle, and Sushil Chetal was beaten with a baseball bat, after which both parents were bound with duct tape and taken away. 

The crime was reported immediately after multiple witnesses called the police, and an off-duty FBI agent who also happened to be nearby assisted. 

Law enforcement located the van within minutes and chased it until the vehicle crashed. Four men fled on foot and were arrested, while the remaining two were found at a nearby rental home. 

According to the Associated Press, all six Floridian men have pleaded guilty. Two received 11-year sentences, and the others await sentencing.

Iza pleaded guilty on Monday to conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery, which is a Hobbs Act offense carrying up to 20 years, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Connecticut.

Iza is not a first-time federal offender

Before the Connecticut arrest, federal investigators in Los Angeles had been building a separate case against Iza. In January, he pleaded guilty in the Central District of California to wire fraud, conspiracy against rights, and tax evasion, according to the Department of Justice.

Prosecutors in that case noticed a pattern of corruption, revealing that while Iza lived in a Bel Air mansion running a cryptocurrency trading firm named Zort, he spent approximately $100,000 monthly on private security. 

According to the Department of Justice, the security was provided by a firm founded by Eric Chase Saavedra, a deputy with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD), who used active LASD deputies and other law enforcement officers as staff for Iza’s entourage. 

Apparently, Iza directed those off-duty deputies to intimidate, extort, and surveil people he had disputes with, according to the court filings. The deputies would then access law enforcement databases for personal information on Iza’s targets, obtain search warrants under false pretenses, and, in one instance, hold a victim at gunpoint inside Iza’s home to force a $25,000 bank transfer.

According to the DOJ, Iza also admitted to stealing up to $37 million by fraudulently accessing Meta Platforms’ business manager accounts and their advertising credit lines between 2020 and 2022. As such, prosecutors in California are seeking a 35-year sentence.

Two LASD deputies, David Rodriguez and Christopher Michael Cadman, also pleaded guilty in July 2025 for their roles in the scheme, according to Cryptopolitan.

A growing pattern of crypto-based violence

The case against Adam Iza reflects a broader trend of violent attacks directed at crypto holders and their families. 

Blockchain security firm CertiK reported that there were 34 verified “wrench attacks” (a term describing the use of physical force to steal digital assets) during the first four months of 2026. This is a 41% increase compared to the same period last year, with these incidents resulting in estimated losses totaling $101 million according to Cryptopolitan.

These incidents are happening everywhere across the world. In the U.S., three Tennessee men were indicted in May for allegedly posing as delivery drivers to rob cryptocurrency holders in California, with one victim forced at gunpoint to transfer approximately $6.5 million. 

Additionally, earlier this year in Arizona, the 84-year-old mother of journalist Savannah Guthrie was kidnapped in an attempt to extort a $6 million Bitcoin ransom. In France, authorities indicted 88 suspects in late April for organized crypto kidnappings, including more than ten minors.

At this rate, CertiK projects that there could be approximately 130 of these incidents by the end of the year. 

Meanwhile, Iza is scheduled for sentencing in the Connecticut case on August 12, though a date for his California sentencing has not yet been publicly announced. According to the Associated Press, his legal counsel in both cases declined to comment or did not respond to requests for comment.